Gallant
by Jayzsha
Summary: With her lack of ambition, she decided to challenge herself unto the road of something that she didn't expect to be. To become a hero. Slow Update. OC-centric. [ON HOLD INDEFINITELY]
1. Heroic

**Hello, hello, everyone reading this and welcome!**

 **Uh, as you can see I wrote a fanfiction of My Hero Academia (or Boku no Hero Academia) that was partially on a whim and then this... happened. For those who know me from my last fanfic, Magi: Despair, Hope and Destiny, _it's been a while isn't it?_ Though, I'm sure that fic was already forgotten by some people but I did not. I still have plans for that fic even though I (sort of) forgot about it (and I even thought about abandoning it but I won't fuvkin' give up, geez).**

 **I still haven't read other MHA/BNHA fanfic in here so please tell me your thoughts about this...**

 **Alright, on with the story! Read and enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Heroic**

" _A hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacle."_

 _(Christopher Reeve)_

* * *

 _There is a saying... that your present action decides your future._

Whatever you are doing right now, is what decides the future. Your present action can inspire a future event that you never expect.

 _Then was this part of Hayami Eshima's future?_

Being called to the faculty office by her homeroom teacher for lecture how important it is to decide for your future? A future that she is certain that will come true?

"Listen here, young lady. This paper in front of you essential to know what would you like to be in the future… Well, not that _too_ essential… but still you have to—"

 _...probably._

Hayami stared at the floor, almost in daze while listening to her teacher rambling. The teacher had been on it for a while, saying about a philosophy of how present action can aspire a potential that can develop in an unexpected way.

In the girl's case, she knows what her teacher was trying to do. She just was worried of the well-being of her student. Earlier, there was a gathering event held at the school auditorium, where teachers gave all the junior high students an academic career plan to fill out the form. Since Hayami left her paper with a blank answer, she was called in to the faculty office and was given lecture about her future plan.

"The future, you see, is unpredictable. You can't really expect anything from _it._ But, this paper vital for you to fill up! The future is _unpredictable_! That's why _you_ have decide the _future_ that _you_ wanted to be!"

Yes, the girl knows the purpose of the lecture from teacher. But she's getting tired of listening of an almost two hours rant with all the same topic.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Ah, sensei, you should get easy with your student. Their ear will fell off if you keep talking like that."

A teacher entered the faculty room, indirectly interrupting her teacher's rant at the greeting. The girl inwardly sighed in relief of the interruption of the other teacher, slumping to her chair with a wry smile as she greeted him back. Misa-sensei, her teacher, huffed with a frown, crossing her arms as her lips stuck out in a pout.

"Good afternoon to you too, _Nii-sensei._ If you can see _who_ I am scolding to, I think you'll understand."

Nii-sensei raised his eyebrow in wonder. He started walking towards to her teacher's table, peering down at the seated student before he blinked his eyes in recognition.

"Oh."

"That's right." Misa-sensei nodded.

Hayami sat stiff in her chair at the attention given by the two teachers. Despite not being a popular student of the school, it seems like the teachers are aware of her infamous reputation. The reputation that made the two teachers look at her as if she was a problem child.

"So," Nii-sensei began. "What did she do? This is the first time I see the _Hayami Eshima_ being sent here."

Wordlessly, the female teacher gave him a fill out paper. The other teacher received it to his hands, his eyes wandered to the students' name _Hayami Eshima_ before he looked down at the rest of the blank answers.

"Soo…"the male teacher drawled. "She was sent here she left this blank?"

Misa-sensei nodded. "I was just lecturing her about it."

"But this is not the first time this happened, sensei. I think you should know that."

"Yes but," she let out a growl in frustration, "she should."

Hayami silently watched them both in curiosity. Her eyes flickering back and forth whenever they're speaking in turn in front of her. If only she wasn't the student guilty of the topic they were talking about, she would have found this entertaining just by sitting at the background.

She continued to listen in silence at the side. Both of the teachers talking in a few minutes in a normal conversation before it slowly escalates into some kind of argument about somethings like _date_ or something. She looked everywhere but them in discomfort, as if trying to deny that she had no business sitting with their presence, cringing when their voice started to get louder that echoed in the room.

Having not enough courage to stop both teachers, a whim of bravery came to her as silently slipped away from her chair. With careful movements, she silently sneaked away towards the door with muted footsteps. When she was far enough, she reached the doorknob to open the door but a loud slam froze her at the spot.

" _Hayami Eshima,_ take this form with you and _think_ again." An angered voice called to her. She started sweating heavily and suddenly forgot to breathe as she stiffly looked behind her.

Her teacher, now without the presence of the male teacher, had turned demonic in the matter moments with her glare pinning the poor girl at the spot.

" _Think_ and write this paper once you've decided." Misa-sensei held out the same paper that she gave to Nii-sensei a few moments ago. "It's okay if you're still uncertain yourself. This is only a temporary decision." Her teacher sighed. "Change is natural development for everyone, after all. _I guess, that goes the same with the future_." She solemnly whispered the part that the girl didn't miss before she gave her a stern look. "You will pass this by tomorrow, no extended deadline, _got it_?"

The girl stared at her teacher for a moment, wondering about the whispered part of her statement before she sighed in defeat. She knows stubbornness of her teacher. Every word that comes from the teachers' mouth, she'll make sure to make it come true. Being a student under her prove it. Awkwardly, she had no choice but to reach for the paper from her teacher's hand.

"If you are so unsure of yourself, why not write your own dream?" The teacher began with a raised eyebrow as the girl glanced at her. "Do you even have dream?"

 _A... dream..._ Hayami looked back to the paper. Her eyes caught the word _Academic Career Plan_ when she scanned it. She stared at those words for a while, as if trying to engrave those words to her mind. Silently, she meekly turned and bowed to her teacher and left the faculty office without a word.

 _A dream, huh..._

She does remember having a dream before when she was a kid. But she can't recall what her dream was. _Was it to become a doctor? Engineer? Scientist? Programmer?_ She doesn't remember at all.

 _Or was it her becoming a hero?_

She stopped in her tracks, blinking at her thoughts. _Hero...?_ She snorted at the thought before she continued walking to her classroom. She can't believe that she thought herself of becoming a hero, a person with a personality of _bold, fearlessness_ and _courage_ who is willing to save the distress.

But... _hero_ does invoke some thoughts in her. She denies this herself, frowning. _Her?_ The _Hayami Eshima_ , the person who is the living embodiment of laziness and the actual cat girl (because of her quirk) saving _someone?_ The _laziness_ that cause her to repeat her third year which is supposed to be a year to mentally prepare for high school which she spent her time sleeping around, _saving someone?_

She's definitely not a person with a _gallant_ personality. _Hell_ even other people would think so for those who knew her. She would spend her time _sleeping, napping_ and _procrastinating_ whenever there's an opportunity to do it.

She is certainly not a _heroic_ person. Definitely. She would rather save herself if she had the opportunity than sacrifice herself to save someone.

But...

 _A dream that you wanted to be in the future?_ Hayami asked herself, remembering the words of her teacher.

 _Perhaps that dream was already lost... along with her childhood._

* * *

While she was walking towards to her classroom, it occurred to her that almost half of her classmates actually chose a 'normal' job. Like a manager or accountant or something like that rather than becoming a hero which – in her opinion – would _actually_ suit well with their quirks.

But when she heard the reason when she eavesdrop... _um_... listened her classmates (which she _did_ followed around) that it was their parents who picked their career. It was their parents who chose their future because it is _safe_ r option rather be in a constant danger that the heroes does in their daily work.

 _Heroes…_

Speaking of heroes; personally, Hayami herself didn't understand why people is so diligent to become a hero. She doesn't know the appeal behind it. After all, there's already people running around saving other people left and right.

Was it because they wanted to become famous? Money? Or maybe a comic dream to be one to save someone?

 _Or was it because of the Symbol of Peace, All Might himself?_

 _All Might…_ She caught herself thinking about _him_. Even though she doesn't want to become a hero, she surprisingly liked All Might. A really funny guy with a large unmissable grin that is always in his face. There's not a single shot of him on TV that shows him with his lips upside down. He always had this smile that kind of _intimidates_ her.

But... despite his unbroken smiling, there's _something_ in All Might that just felt... _wrong_. _Wrong_ because she's worried of the man who is often smiling. A man smiling for the sake of _others_. For the lack of better word to describe the feeling, there's something... _strange_ with a man who called himself as the Number One Hero.

Despite all that, she likes him. A pretty good guy who will always smiling _for others_. It kind of brings her relief that he's part of the hero business. That guy is pretty strong.

 _The man of inspiration, All Might._

To be quite honest, even when watching him in TV, she doesn't feel... _inspired_. She just saw All Might as one of the hero celebrities who will be always there with you when you're in a pinch, an image she always saw whenever _they_ (heroes) appeared in TV. Just like those heroes, he promised the same words of protecting the civilians, but his sounded more _... genuine_ , as if he meant every word compared to the others' promise. As if there was a weight behind it that was pretty easy to miss. That was her impression of him.

 _The embodiment of victory, All Might._

She blinked her eyes when she realized that she dozed off for a while and noticed that everyone in the room has already gone home when she arrived. Hayami spotted her bag and grabbed it as she glanced her wristwatch for the time being and realized that it's still a bit early of her to go home.

Since... it's still early for her, she decided to do some club activities. As one of the student of the prestigious school in nation, there's a strict requirement implemented for the students to have at least ONE extracurricular activities after school. And she choose the club that interested her the most.

 _Martial Arts Club._

* * *

Hayami found herself walking at the sidewalk of the city. When she went to the club earlier, there was some kind of conflict between the president of her club and the president of high school council. There were members of the martial arts gathering around them, watching their argument. They were kicked out by the club president themselves when it started to get crowded. Some members already went home after that scolding they received but others stayed to watch the ongoing argument between the presidents despite they are being already yelled.

Though, Hayami herself didn't know the reason why they were arguing but she'd rather not get involved with their fight. It wasn't her business to butt in anyway.

 _ **Boom!**_

The girl nearly lost her balance when she felt large tremor as she reached out a nearby pole. The people around her also felt the same tremor as some of them lost their balance and fell on their butts. She looked around in confusion, wondering where the tremor came from.

 _"It seems like a villain is going crazy nearby."_

 _"Yeah, has someone already called the heroes?"_

Her cat ears perked up when she heard the conversation a few feet from her. Thanks to her quirk, which gave she her a similar capabilities of a cat like enhanced hearing and eyesight.

Though, her quirk can be a nuisance sometimes. Because she had an eyesight of a cat, it makes her see different colors that a normal people can't see. That's why she had to wear a specialized eyeglasses so that she can have a 'normal' eyesight to lessen her headache. Even a loud boom in the distance can make her jolt in alarm because of her ears.

But thinking about her current situation, right now...

But of course...

 _What's a hero without a villain?_

Hayami started to walked away to go to the train station so that she can go home early. She's not interested witnessing a conflict for today, even if it's involved with heroes. She'd rather do her homework at home and _think_ _about her future._

 _She seriously had no time to watch heroes and villains fighting each other—_

Not paying attention to her surroundings, she stumbled to someone and she nearly fell to the ground. But thanks to her quirk, giving her agile reflexes to always land on her feet (sometimes, in all fours) and manage to regain her balance.

" _Sorry!"_ she heard someone shouting an apology as she looked up wondering who said that. She blinked in realization it was someone she just stumbled but he already went ahead to the direction where the ongoing fight ahead, his running figure only just a blur in his speed.

 _ **Plat!**_

She tilted her chin down when she heard something dropped to the ground with the sound of flipping pages. She frowned in confusion, seeing the fallen notebook and grabbed it and skimmed the cover page.

 _ **Hero Analysis for the Future.**_

 _Hero Analysis...?_ Hayami put her fingers in her chin in thought. In curiosity, she opened the first page of the notebook as she browsed the handwritten words. And then she turned it to the next page, and the next, and the next... and the next...

 _Wow._ The girl's mind was blown away at the neatly detailed of the heroes that was put in reference in the notebook. From their quirks to fighting style, the way he put the description of them was so impressive of how he was able to analyze every aspect of every hero individually. For someone who is able to evaluate this much detail, he must have been a very _intense_ otaku of heroes…

 _Ah, that's why he's going where the heroes are fighting..._ she realized as she snapped her fingers at her assumption but then frowned at her own thought.

 _Wait, I have to go_ there _...?_ She groaned at the thought of going to the fight. All she wanted to do is return his notebook to his own hands. Since she is no destroyer of _dreams_ and imagining him losing his notebook in despair is not a thought that she wanted to perceive to herself.

Despite being disgruntled at the thought of going to the chaos, she decided to just return his notebook. By searching him, she will immediately return his notebook then turn around and go home. That was her master plan.

* * *

"Oh, it's Death Arms!"

"He carries out justice through his great physical strength - The Punching Hero!"

 _Um..._

"The rescue specialist - Backdraft - is here, too!"

 _Uhh..._

"But man, turning into a monster's an amazing quirk—"

"He stole someone's bag and went out of control—"

"—and he's a bag snatcher—"

"—I don't know what time—"

"Kyaa! You can do it, Kamui!"

Hayami covered her ears from the continuous noises around her. She immediately regretted her decision to come here in this chaotic disaster. From mutters, screams to squealing, she can hear everything around her surroundings. Silently, she curse her life and questioned why she was given of this nuisance quirk of hers in her already despicable life.

 _Today is totally her bad day._

To ease the noise apart from her surroundings, she used the notebook to cover her cat ears. She continued her search despite the noise around her with a _blank_ face.

 _Yes, with her unexpressive face._

Hayami Eshima is not the type of person who doesn't expressed her thoughts lightly to a stranger. Nor is she a talkative person. It was her expression to be quiet because she can. It was her choice to be alone because she wanted to. Everything she does was her own because she wanted to be independent.

 _Yet she struggles to decide her own future._

She was lazy, she admitted that. Until now, she still is but not too much. She already learned her lesson when she repeated a grade in junior high.

But aside from that, she should totally search the owner of the notebook. She desperately wanted to get away from this busybody crowd so that she can finally find peace once she gets out from here.

But _goddammit_ , everyone is so damn tall and it's hindering her search. She blamed her natural genetics for being so short apart from everybody. She struggled to continue her quest for the owner of the analytics notebook for heroes, slipping through the crowds of squeezing bodies with a huff to search for him.

After a few minutes of search, she's beginning to feel lightheaded from the noises, walking around the crowd with the notebook still covering her ears. Aside from the crowd which almost consist of adults, she should be able to see him once if she caught a glance of a school uniform. She noticed during their brief encounter that he seems to be the same age as her.

 _"Who's currently fighting?"_

Her ears perked up at the enthusiastic voice with the subtle sense of familiarity. As if she was carried away from the question that came from that voice, she found herself looking up who's currently fighting the villain.

 _"Kamui Woods!"_

She heard that voice again as if he was the commentator of a fight like an enthusiastic MC.

 _"The young and talented rising star!"_

As if she was struck by an arrow, she recognized his manner of speech. The way he talks as if he just hit a jackpot especially when he talks about heroes—

"Ah—!"

She immediately shut up and covered her mouth when she said it loudly. She whipped her head around her to see if someone noticed her exclaim. Seeing their attention was still at the ongoing fight, she sighed in relief when no one did. She can't really blame them for not hearing her – after all, all of them is in the middle of this havoc.

 _"Canyon Cannon!"_

She grimaced at the sound of the impact of an attack – despite not seeing it altogether. She winced when the victim of the attacker dropped loudly to the ground. Since they are fighting a freaking giant - it's natural that the giant villain to drop so loudly at the ground. The giant hero had caused more property damage to the city than they should have in the price of defeating this villain.

Seriously, sometimes Hayami thought of this from time to time to herself whenever she witnessing similar like this. Whether in TV or real life, she thought that heroes are _glorified troublemakers._

 _ **Flash! Flash! Flash!**_

The sound of flashes of the cameras startled her to the bone when lots of cameramen appeared out of nowhere. They captured a picture of the newcomer hero who defeated the huge villain with a single kick of a similarly giant stature of her own.

Though, Hayami was sure that the cameramen was not trying to capture of the valiant action of the hero. But rather, it was the tight fitting outfit that was worn by the female hero who is obviously making a pose to the camera for fan service.

"A pleasure to make your _ass_ -quaintance."

...

 _I should get out of here,_ she thought with a deadpan face and turn her back at the scene – not amused by the pun said by the giant hero.

Despite her unimpressive impression of the non-impressive hero, the crowd cheered at the hero who saved the day. Even though she arrived at the last second like those in the comic book heroes, everyone cheered for her like a champion.

As for the poor dude with a wooden mask - Kamui Woods - he was down all fours at the building with his head covered in dark clouds. Mt. Lady was getting the credit of all the hero work that she didn't do herself. She mostly stole the hard work and spotlight from him as he should be the one who deserved the credit for doing most of the heavy work.

Despite Hayami's opinion of heroes being a troublemaker, _being_ a troublemaker does not necessarily a bad thing itself. Leaving traces of the battlefield is the evidence of the battle itself. With this world full of heroes and superpowers, it became a common knowledge that whenever there's a big fight between a hero and a villain, everyone is pretty much expecting a property damage.

And who pays the property damage?

The heroes themselves.

In other words, civilians has nothing to worry about the damages. As long as they can witness a great fight between a hero and villain, it's all good.

The occupation itself – being a _hero_ , has its own ups and downs. It can creates advantages at the every disadvantages or vice versa. It depends on the situation and circumstances that the hero does in their actions.

For the lack of better words, being a hero is a dangerous _job_.

" _Eh? Eh?! My notebook! Where's my notebook?!_ " she heard a panicked voice at the distance.

She snapped her head at the direction of the source. She started walking towards that direction as the crowd started to disperse away. Thus, making her journey of her quest for searching the owner of the notebook a bit easier.

 _I guess it's my time to make my own dramatic appearance._

* * *

Midoriya Izuku profusely searched for his notebook in his bag. _It's gone...!_ He panicked, his heart skipping fast as if he just went a full run of a marathon. He rummaged his bag once again but his dear notebook was nowhere to be found. He looked around him hoping that his notebook was somewhere around him but there wasn't a single trace.

 _"Eh? Eh?! My notebook! Where's my notebook?!"_

He vocally let out his panicked thoughts as he freaked out at the thought of losing his notebook. He poured his heart and soul creating that notebook ever since his childhood.

 _It was his own dear notebook with his own memories._

 _ **Bam!**_

"Ow!"

Midoriya felt pain when he was decked in the head by someone. He stumbled at the unexpected attack while he rubbed his head in pain.

"You forgot this." A feminine voice said to him as his own notebook came to his field of vision.

 _ **Hero Analysis for the Future.**_

There it said at the cover.

" _You forgot this._ "

The same voice said to him with a slight change of tone - irritation.

"Ah...! Um... Thank you for finding this!" Midoriya bowed at the person in front of him as he thanked them. He heard them sighed in exasperation.

"You should take good care of your things, umm—"

"Midoriya Izuku." He added, his head still bowed.

"Yeah, Midoriya-san... Uh... Um..." the person in front of him seemed to be embarrassed, based on their sudden change of tone. "You can raise your head now, Midoriya-san. You're kind of making me embarrassed here..."

To please their desire for the person in front of him, he raised his head.

He felt himself stiffened when he saw her.

As if he was caught in nostalgia of his past, the person's appearance in front of him made him gasp in shock.

He _knows_ this person.

Hayami Eshima, a neighbor of his. Living one block away from his house - the Hayami Household.

He _definitely_ knows this person.

Long pink hair with cat ears twitching at the top of her head. Her undeniable blue eyes gazing him looking at him a subtle sign of curiosity under her half-rimmed glasses. This was an appearance of hers that is _completely_ familiar to him. There's no denying in his past that he knew of her – of her past.

Why? Because...

Hayami Eshima was a childhood friend of Midoriya Izuku.

Along with Bakugo Katsuki.

"It's... been a while, _Shiichan_."

* * *

" _Shiichan...?_ "

Hayami Eshima can't help but blurt out at the nickname that Midoriya Izuku called her.

Shiichan.

Completely overwhelmed with a sense of déjà vu and nostalgia, she can only looked at Midoriya with her own shocked expression.

"You don't remember...?"

He sounded dejected, as if he was disappointed with her. Of course, she can't remember anything. Even if she would try right now, nothing would came up.

Nothing at all.

"You... must be someone I know. I'm sorry, Midoriya-san." She responded his question, regretting her own actions when she saw him in despair. An expression that she doesn't want to perceive herself.

"I'm sorry if I didn't remember you at all because I got into an accident in the past and lost my memories."

* * *

Midoriya Izuku understood her reason.

 _Finally,_ he thought to himself. _Thank god_ , he thought once again, a feeling of relief seemed to overtake his senses.

Of course, Shiichan is not that type of person.

Within his own remnant of his past, there was a painful reminder of the evolution of Bakugo Katsuki. From a friend to a bully - a boy who torments him in the past and perhaps until now, was a raw reminiscence in his mind.

Hayami Eshima or Shiichan, now he knows the reason of her own development. Understanding her situation, from a friend - now stranger, that scene will always a painful reminder of how he felt. An utter betrayal and constant ignorance to each other - he finally understood the reason behind it.

 _It was a single look of her sky blue eyes that he will always caught himself admiring..._

 _A glare that shattered his world as he experienced sentiment of betrayal._

 _A striking glance of hers that she doesn't even remember when she looked at him._

Nothing at all.

"I see." He responded with a smile. He felt that this sort of simple response felt far more appropriate especially with her circumstances.

He felt like he respect her - a girl's space.

 _Wait—!_

Girl...?

His thought processed like gears in his head, slowly like snail as he tried to make sense what is wrong with the word itself.

 _Girl..._

...

Girl?!

A girl! A _girl_! He forgot he was talking to a _**girl**_!

His head lets out a red alarm of panic and emergency. He was full-on red alert of his surroundings along with his blushing face. Without warning, he sprinted away from the girl he was talking to just moments ago.

Meanwhile, the girl in question was left alone in confusion at her spot. Wondering to herself what happened to his sudden change of behavior.

* * *

 **9:03 AM. The Next Day.**

It was a _normal_ school day for Hayami Eshima.

She managed to _not_ arrive late at the school. She was _not_ scolded by her teacher because of her tardiness. She was _not_ lectured by her homeroom teacher who taught her the philosophy of ambition (present and future) yesterday.

 _Totally normal, just as planned._

With her head still in daze from sleepiness, her encounter with Midoriya Izuku has been bugging her mind ever since she met him yesterday. When he talked with her with a side of déjà vu-ness, she felt nothing but a sense of nostalgia washing over her. It felt like she just had a reunion with a friend whom she had never met for a long time.

" _All right, can someone tell me the flaw of this statement?" Her English teacher, unaware of the thinking spree of a certain student, continued her lesson as it is supposed to be._

Suspicious of her own familiarity she had with this boy, she spent her night being awake, trying to make sense the feeling of closeness with him. She racked her brain for memories with a certain keyword.

 _Midoriya Izuku._

She kept repeating it under her breath like a mantra. Like a prayer, she closed her eyes in case for a vision to come to her, unwillingly nor unexpectedly.

There was nothing.

" _Can someone solve this formula in the board?" The familiar male teacher, Nii-sensei, looked at the students expectedly as few hands were raised._

Unfortunately, memories doesn't care about time. Memories can only capture moments. Precious, unforgettable and powerful moments is the only thing can eternally engraved for a strong memory if you want a firm remembrance to remember.

" _Very good, Nui-san." The student who solved the formula nodded at the teacher. He walked back to his seat, briefly glancing at his pink-haired seatmate who didn't return his look. He frowned at her when he noticed a glazed look in her eyes._

Hayami felt like time was insulting her the whole time. Remembering back from yesterday's event, she went home early. She met her _supposed to be her childhood frien_ d (actually, it's more related to moment). And the time she wasted during that chaotic fight between those heroes and a single villain.

 _ **DRIIIIIIIIIIING!**_

Hayami jumped in surprise at the school bell ring when it rang too loudly for her own ears as she covered it to lessen the noise.

From all that thinking she had right now, she realized that the school bell was the cue for lunch time. Hayami groaned at her table at her predicament and was sure of it that time is definitely making fun of her.

Funny how time is every one's enemy.

* * *

Hayami never realized this herself but her legs just started to move on their own. Walking towards to the direction of a certain school that she never thought would go.

 _Aldera Junior High._

If she can't remember her own memories, she decided to confront the person who already knew her ever since her childhood.

 _Midoriya Izuku._

Last night, Hayami started to get embarrassed because she sometimes caught herself thinking the green-haired person she just met yesterday. Her, supposed to be childhood friend she forgot, she assumed that maybe they were close in the past with her undeniable feeling she had with this boy.

Ever since the school bell rings earlier, she stopped thinking of what she should do, what she wanted to do and what she does. She grabbed her bag and found herself walking towards the school gates - her school's gate and walked away.

As if operated by autopilot, she walked, walked, and walked until she found herself sitting in a swing set at the familiar playground. As an unknown certain reminiscence came to her, she's definitely sure that she had some memories embarked in this place.

Whether it was just a second of time or a single moment, Hayami is getting a _bit_ desperate of finding out the mystery of her past. Important or non-important - as long as she remember at least a single memory, it would make her at least partially complete.

 _Like a jigsaw puzzle missing its significant parts to complete._

Thus, this was the moment she decided to visit Aldera Junior High.

With the sun brilliantly shining above her, and white clouds could barely cover the vast blue skies, Hayami found herself looking up at the peaceful heavens above her. Still walking absent-mindedly to her destination, looking up the sky brought her an intense relief of calmness - easing her nerves a bit.

After a whole while of walking, she stopped looking at the sky and halted her tracks. She found herself standing in front of the certain school building.

She immediately went to the side of the school gates - trying to calm her nerves. She saw some students coming out from the school.

Ever since her walk from the playground, her nervousness seems to be progressively skyrocketed while walking to her destination. But thanks to the calmness of the skies above her, it eased her nerves a bit.

With a bit of sense of anxiety still lingers within her, she looked down to the ground, trying to not make eye contact of the students of Aldera High. She does frequently glanced every time a person walks out from the gates.

While it took her forever to wait at the gate to wait for someone, the person that she was looking for finally came out. But for some reason, he was rubbing his eyes and had puffy eyes.

Overcome with worry, Hayami walked towards him and put her hands in his shoulder in comfort. He seems to flinch under her touch.

"It's okay." She said, trying to comfort him with her words.

 _It's okay._

For some reason, she seemed to have used this phrase many times.

 _To him._

Despite not using it all the time.

Forest green eyes met the sky blue eyes. Due to Hayami's short stature, her height can only reach on Midoriya's eye level, he was slightly looking down at her face.

The boy smiled at the worried girl. Those words she said was familiar. Even though she doesn't have the memory of him in the past, they were subtle undertones of her actions that she _does_ remember.

"Thank you, _Shii_ \- I mean, _Hayami-san_." He corrected himself, not wanting the girl to get weirded out by him.

"Ah, you can call me Shiichan if you are comfortable with that, and also -"

"But Shii - I mean, Hayami-ch-"

"See? You nearly called me Shiichan right there, and also your Hayami-san turned into Hayami-chan." She sighed. "Like I said, you can me 'Shiichan' if you want and also I'm sure you are not used calling me with another names."

The boy was silent at the statement and permission he just got from the girl. Despite the development that the girl went through, there are some things that doesn't change at all.

Midoriya Izuku was kind of glad that the Hayami Eshima he knew in the past still lingers in her.

 _Oh wait, that was rather dumb of him._ No matter how or what went through to her life, Hayami Eshima is still standing right in front of him. The experiences she went through was her own and hers alone and it would be selfish for him if he wanted her to revert back to the past that he knows so well.

 _Hayami Eshima was simply changed not replaced._

"... I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? It wasn't your fault."

Seriously, she's about to make him cry from this amount of nostalgia if she keeps talking.

* * *

"By the way Shiichan, what kind of accident did you experience that made you lose your memories?"

The girl scratched her head. "Ah, to be honest, I don't know what really happened myself." She said before she put her chin in thought with a hum. "Maybe it's the generic car crash and then hit my head that made me lose my memories?" she answered her question with a light shrug.

Midoriya sweat dropped. _You shouldn't take accidents lightly like that, Shiichan._

Hayami and Midoriya continued their casual talk on the road. After she comforted the green-haired _supposed to be friend,_ Hayami insisted to walk with her and frankly told him that she wanted to know the past from his perspective. Midoriya was surprised at her sudden demand since he always walks alone and was also shocked at wanting to know her past from him but agreed to her request nonetheless.

"Then you don't remember?" he asked.

"Probably, probably not." She shrugged. "I don't have any recollection of it so it's really weird to me that I can't even remember the accident." She answered honestly.

Naturally, you are supposed to remember the incident of something that made you suffer in the first place but for Hayami's case, she can't remember at all. Nothing at all. And it's kind of creepy that if she tried to remember...

...

Well...

It wasn't nothing at all.

If she did force herself to remember...

She remembered being in the cold place.

That was all.

Whether if it was a feeling or her instincts kicking in, she'd rather not remember that part of her past - even worse that it was only thing left in her memory box.

 _Just darkness - a cold and hollow place_.

"B-by the way, how did you met me in the past?" Hayami stammered, desperately changed the subject since she doesn't want to talk about it.

"Huh? You? Um..." The boy seemed to be startled at the sudden change of subject before his eyes lit up in remembrance.

"Ah, I remembered! When we first met you, _Kacchan_ and I tried to approach you. But only Kacchan is the only one who had enough courage to invite you in our group while I just watched behind him."

"Eh, I see. Uh, who is this 'Kacchan'?"

" _Bakugo Katsuki,_ he was a friend of ours..." Midoriya trailed off as he looked down in gloom that was gone unnoticed by Hayami.

"Friend, huh?" she let out a dry laugh. "I don't have that much friends in my school."

"Eh, you? I mean, to be honest, I don't have friends too..." he muttered in embarrassed as Hayami chuckled at his confession. All of sudden, this conversation turned into a sharing of relatable situation.

Silence overtook their surroundings after that talk as they mutedly walked each other side by side. Looking for their place of destination as they crossed under the bridge.

"By the way, Midoriya-kun, I mean _-san_ , do you have a dream?" She curiously asked him.

"Dream?" he asked in question.

"Yeah. I wanted to know what you wanted to be." She answered with honest eyes, looking at him in interest.

"I... wanted to become a hero." He answered after a moment of hesitation.

Midoriya's response, of all the expectations she expected, it surprised her. This kid wanted to become a hero, probably the current riskiest job in the world.

"Then, what is your quirk?" She asked the unknown, dreaded question as she unwarily continued. "If you are so determine to become a hero, then your quirk must be suitable for combat, right?"

 _That's right. Being a hero is a dangerous mindset. Always be in a constant danger, becoming both threat and a victim, depends how the situation calls. If this kid wanted to be a hero, then he must have a suitable quirk –_

"I'm Quirkless."

 _Huh?_ His response made her thoughts froze in her tracks. Quirkless. Which means – no quirk, no superpowers, nothing.

Just ordinary - normal.

"I have no quirk." He repeated with low voice as he continued his walk despite feeling gloomy all over.

For Hayami, she stopped walking beside him as she halted her steps. His response mortified her greatly – she really felt shameless, foolish to ask such a dumb question to him.

"I-I'm sorry, Midoriya-kun. I shouldn't have ask–"

She stopped.

She suddenly forgot how to breathe. Hair standing up at the malice she felt behind her. She heard something. Something wriggling - a disgusting sound of liquid that she never thought she would hear in her entire life. It felt sickening under her skin that it made her want cringe at the sound that it makes her want to grind her teeth in disgust.

Hayami glanced at Midoriya who also stopped. She silently prayed for him to just go ahead. This... something behind her is surely something they can't handle.

 _A villain - no doubt._

Unfortunately, he naively turned around. The girl panicked. _Shit_. She cursed in her mind. Her survival instincts keeps saying to run away from here but the boy will be left alone with the villain and will surely be attacked.

 _Shit. Shit. Shit. What should I do? What should I do?_

She started to sweat profusely, hesitation and dread seem to slowly overtake her thoughts in panic.

 _Should I call for help? Scream? Should I go run to call for a hero or –!_

"A medium-sized invisibility cloak..." the villain croaked when he saw his targets.

Medium-sized invisibility cloak - _wait...?!_

WHAT AM I THINKING IN A TIME LIKE THIS?!

 **Dodge.**

And so she did as she jumped out of the way from the attack of the sludge villain as her catlike instincts override her mind.

 _A mistake._

Her aversion from the villain attacked the green-haired boy. Hayami gasped when she saw Midoriya being ravaged by the villain.

 _No!_

 **Run.**

 _No!_ She shook her head, trying to ignore her instincts. _No._ She thought. _I have to save him._

 **But how?**

She froze as she watched the person she just walked with being engulfed by the villain. _She doesn't know how._

 _"What is it, brat? Scared?"_

Hayami snapped out of her daze when she heard what the villain said.

 _Scared...?_

Once again, instincts took over her as she dodged the attack of the villain. She continued to dodge the relentless attacks while trying to think an offense against the villain for a fleeting plan.

 _Should she grab the villain?_ No. It's made of fluid, it's impossible.

 _Then, should she grab Midoriya instead?_ Again, impossible. He's currently being imprisoned by the liquidized villain.

Hayami doesn't have a suitable Quirk against this type of villain. Hers is all about agility and physical attacks - nothing more, nothing less. Unsuitable and flawed for this circumstances.

Then, should she run and call for a hero?

Her last option seem sound and possible but it will take time. Probably when she come back here with a hero, Midoriya will be a lost cause.

A risky option.

But her conscience is preventing her to do it. What if he will take a wrong idea? Like leaving him for good?

What if he thinks that she betrayed him?

 _Ah, geez...! No time to think! I have to do something!_

 **Then, what about run away and save yourself?**

 _That...!_ Her last thought surprised her that she stopped moving altogether.

 _That is..._ She hanged her head, her bangs covering her eyes.

 _That is..._

"THAT IS THE LEAST OF THE THINGS THAT I WOULD WANT TO DO!"

 _ **BAM!**_

 _"Do not worry, young lady."_

 _This voice...!_ Hayami thought in surprise as she turned around to see—

"Because I am here!" he vigorously announced with his large smile.

 _The Number One Hero - All Might himself._

She just watched All Might defeating the villain that currently imprisoned Midoriya with just a single action of his punch. Bringing wind pressure with him against the villain who bursts into pieces, freeing Midoriya in his clutches.

Well, that was, according to what she saw – it happened way too fast to follow in her eyes. Before she knew it, Midoriya was already at ground and the sludge villain was scattered around the ground. Hayami wasn't unable to process what actually happened in front of her but she knows they were saved.

 _By All Might of all people._

She collapsed at the ground and she let out a breath of relief that she never knew that she was holding in. _Thank god._ She thought. No one was left, no one was wounded, there was no misunderstanding – _they were saved._

"Are you okay, young lady?"

All Might's voice startled her thoughts. She looked at him and saw him crouching down rather cutely that the back of her mind cause her to blurt a silent what the heck. He adorably picked the pieces of fragments of the villain and putting it in a plastic bottle in his hand.

His large smile was facing to her kind of scared her as she responded with her own hesitant smile. "I-I'm alright, All Might-san..." she replied with a forced laugh.

 _Oh my god, I just talked to a hero celebrity._

Despite not being that much of an expressive person, she was inwardly freaking out at the famous hero in front of her. Her nerves screaming at her to be polite to this person's presence.

While All Might continue picking up the littered villain around, Hayami sneakily tip-toed behind him. She silently walk towards Midoriya who seemed to be knocked out from the stress of being ravaged by the villain earlier.

When she reached him, she crouched down to him. She put her hand under his nose, confirming if he's still breathing and then put her fingers in his wrist to check his pulse. She sighed in relief when she realized that he's well - no abnormalities.

 _Wait, why am I so calm?_ She thought, a bit surprised to herself. _I mean, it was a matter of life-and-death just a moments earlier._

"Is that young man okay, young lady?"

For the second time, Hayami was startled once again by All Might's deep voice. She immediately turned her head to him as she could gather the strength to only answer him with dumb nods.

"By the way, young lady. You did a great job holding against the villain, you have my utmost thanks, young lady. That was quite heroic of you."

"Ah, no, I don't think..." she trailed as she blushed at the compliment that All Might said to her. But...

That wasn't heroic of her.

After all, Midoriya suffered all through it...

"But, young lady..." All Might continue his last statement. "I do understand your hesitation earlier."

Hayami looked up to him in surprise. _How...?_

 _"Sometimes, one's indecisiveness can cloud people's action and cause hesitation in mind."_ All Might patted her head between her cat ears, lightly caressing it. "Do not worry, young cat lady. You're still young. You still have a long way to go."

Hayami subtly leaned against his touch. Whether if it was her catlike instincts or his words affecting her, she was definitely moved by his care of her. Guess he wasn't just a number one hero for nothing.

"Thanks..." she muttered under her breath as All Might laughed.

"Don't mention it. By the way, when is that young man going to wake up?"

"Sooner or later. Perhaps he was shock earlier especially when he saved by his idol hero." Hayami blinked at what she just said.

 _How did I know that?_

"Ah, I see." All Might chuckled. "I get that a lot. I'm surprised that you didn't fawned at me, young lady. Not a fan?"

She nervously laughed, giving him a silent shrugged answer. _Not really..._

"Hmm? What is this?" All Might asked as he grabbed something in the ground. Hayami was able to see a glimpse of the object he just picked up.

"Ah, that's his notebook... sir."

"Hmm? For what?" All Might opened the first page, then the next, then next, and the next...

"Impressive." All Might mused, clearly impressed at the contents of the notebook.

"Isn't it? I also had the same reaction when I saw that... sir." _Wait –_

 _What am I doing?! Having a casual talk with the number one hero?!_

"I see, I see." He nodded what seemed to be the contents of the notebook and then out of nowhere, he pulled out a marker. "While I'm busy signing here, why don't you try waking the young man up? I'm in a hurry."

Hayami could only nod in response at him as she turned her head to Midoriya, trying to wake him up.

"Midoriya-kun?" She hesitantly shook him.

"Midoriya-san?" She shook him again using different honorific and then it continues.

"Midoriya-chan?"

"Midoriya-...han?"

"Midoriya."

"Izuku."

"Izuku-kun."

"Izuku-chan!"

"Izuku-tan!"

"... If you don't mind me asking, young lady... but what the heck are you doing?"

Hayami turned to All Might in his question. "Trying to him wake up?" She answered with the 'duh' face.

"From my perspective, I think you're trying to kill him, young lady."

"Ehh? Then how should I do it?"

"Hmm... try slapping him –"

"Wha—?!"

"Slap his cheeks."

Hayami looked at the blonde-haired hero incredulously at his absurd suggestion but nonetheless scooted closer to the unconscious boy. She raised her right hand, readying herself to slap the heck out of him –

...

...

...

Hayami sulked in the corner unable to bring herself to slap the boy. All Might could only sweat drop at her sudden change of mind in the last second, looking at her brooding form in the corner. The hero neared himself to the boy and did the job himself and softly slapped him repeatedly.

As the girl sulked herself in the corner, she could only watch the scene in front of her when the boy woke up. Midoriya freaking out in front of his idol with a flushed face when he was woke up by All Might.

Watching the two of them makes her really think of the future. Both All Might and Midoriya conversing to each other is like two generations crashing to each other for an inevitable future. The old generation of heroes - All Might, and the up and all newer generation - Midoriya Izuku. Inspiration and dreams seems to collide, weaving a new future for everyone's sake.

 _Dreams, huh?_ Hayami thought as she glanced at the green-haired boy. _It must have been good to have a dream, right?_

Wait –

 _Dream?_

 _Hmm... I feel like I'm forgetting something..._

 **"If you are so unsure of yourself, why not write your own dream?"**

 _Oh._

...

 _Yup, I'm dead._

She put her palm to her face in realization, completely forgetting about the paper that was given by her teacher yesterday. Academic Career Plan. A plan for a future. A future that she is certain that will come true.

A saying that your present action decides your future.

She completely forgot about it.

"...As for the young cat lady in the corner."

Hayami snapped out of her daze at the mention of description of her by All Might.

"Despite not being a fan of mine, thanks for the great talk!" All Might said as he saluted at her.

 _Huh? Huh? Eh?_ Since she wasn't paying attention to him, she wasn't able to know the full context of their conversation.

"Until we meet again, Young Hayami—"

"Eh—?!"

"Well then, I'm counting on your continued support!"

"Huh— _wait!_ "

The girl tried to reach out the hero but All Might had already leapt away to who-knows-where towards the calming blue sky. She could only look at the fading figure of All Might in the sky, disgruntled.

 _How the heck did he knows my name?_ A bit chagrined about how he knows her name, Hayami decided to forget about it for now and move on.

"Let's go, Midoriya-kun. We'll be late of the train—"

 _Ah—_

" _Hmm?_ " Hayami looked around her surroundings, trying searching for the boy she walked with.

"Where the heck is he?" She wondered.

 _Did he run away from seeing his idol or—_

She realized with a deadpanned face.

 _Did he freakin' went with All Might?!_

No wonder All Might's figure looks weird when he leap away.

 _Midoriya-kun, you...! Leaving me here all by myself!_

Hayami can't help but pout when she was left alone on her own.

* * *

Since Hayami was left alone by her dear friend, she had no choice but to go on her own. It wasn't like she was angry on Midoriya, she was just unhappy that she wasn't able to walk with him and talk about their past together. She sighed, she really can't blame Midoriya. He is, after all, a huge fan boy of All Might so he went with him.

 _But how?_ This had been on Hayami's mind. _How he was able to go after the number one hero? Did he cling to his leg or something?_

 _And also, how did she know that Midoriya looks up to All Might?_

She doesn't know.

Putting all that thoughts aside, she was a bit envious that Midoriya had a dream of his own, even though that dream seems to be impossible for him. Well, what's the use of the dream if dreams had no obstacle and is achieved easily?

But the world they are living, the kind of world that dreams can become reality, contradicts her statement. Gifted with superpowers - also known as Quirks - can make it possible.

 _But Quirks are not omnipotent device. They are Quirks – quirks unique to every individual not some kind of power-up bullshit like granting wishes from the likes of Holy Grail._

She sighed at her thoughts. Perhaps, she was just cynical of this world. She tends to have this negative and skeptical view on her own that she tends to lower her expectation in almost everything. This world is nowhere near to perfection, making your dreams come true is not a sign of perfection.

Maybe... this is the effect of her lost memories that makes her a pessimistic person. Maybe she lowered her expectation because she learned from _something_ in the past.

And that something can be _anything_.

Or perhaps, her optimism was drained from her childhood that made her lost sight of future. There can be many possibilities in the mystery of her past that she never remembered. And many questions that was probably already answered in the present that she never knew in the past.

She just doesn't know.

Hayami Eshima walked absent-mindedly in the city. She ignored the people around her as she occupied herself with her thoughts. The thoughts of her lost memories, an old friend and more importantly, her dreams.

When she thought about dreams, the girl opened her bag as she grabbed the object inside. She unruffled the crumpled paper in front of her.

 _ **Academic Career Plan.**_

There it said at the top of the paper.

She attempted to unwrinkled the paper and tried to straighten it up, unaware that she was standing in the middle of the sidewalk.

For the second time of the week, Hayami bumped into someone – or to be more accurate, someone bumped into her. She accidentally to let go of paper as it flew away from her hands. She tried to reach after it but someone had already caught it mid-air.

She glanced at the person who caught it.

Blood red eyes met the sky blue ones.

"Ah, thank you so much, um..." Hayami tilted her head, kind of expecting an answer from him. She received nothing. But instead of answering to her, he slowly lowered his hand, the hand where he caught the paper. The girl smiled at the gesture as she reach it.

"Thank you—" Just as she was about to touch it, he raised his hand above his head, making it out of her reach.

She could only look in disbelief at the person in front of her, unable to believe what he just did to her.

 _Is he teasing me of my height?_ She thought as once again, for the second time of the week, she cursed her existence as a short person.

"Can I have that paper, please?" She asked, slightly annoyed as she said it in a polite approach.

The person in front of her only raised an eyebrow at her as he lowered his hand once again. Hayami narrowed her eyes in suspicion at him and then glance at the paper in his hand then back again to his face.

She slowly reach the paper in his hand while glancing back and forth from his face and to his hand. With a jolt, she attempted to grab the crumpled paper in his hand but unfortunately, he raised it again above his head.

She wanted to scream in frustration.

"You shouldn't tease the girl, Katsuki."

"That's right, Katsuki. Give the paper back to her."

She heard two people laughed behind this person in front of her who seemed to enjoy tormenting her. But her attention was focused on something else.

 _Katsuki?_ She thought when she heard the familiar name.

The person in front of her - also known as _Bakugo Katsuki_ , clicked his tongue. "Fine. But on one condition..." Hayami turned her attention to him.

 _"Apologize."_

 _Oh._ She made a small sigh of relief. _Oh, thank god it wasn't like that._ She thought.

Accepting his condition, Hayami bended her body as she bowed to him. "I'm sorry."

Bakugo was taken back but quickly regained his composure. He never expected that the girl in front of him would easily accept his condition so quickly.

Mildly satisfied with her action, he slammed the paper on the back of her bowing head. He walked away from her along with his friends who apologize for their friend's behavior to her. Hayami never responded to their apology.

After all, it didn't directly came from Bakugo himself.

 _It wasn't genuine._

Grabbing the paper on the back of her head, she straighten her spine as she looked back after their back. She put the paper inside her bag, turning away her attention from them and continue her walk ahead.

 _"Back to our conversation earlier, aren't you and Midoriya childhood friends?"_

Her cat ears twitch at the mention of the green-haired boy, halting her steps.

"You went a little overboard today." She heard one of Bakugo's friend said.

"It's his fault for getting in my way!" She heard Bakugo say, who seemed to be annoyed.

Giving in to the temptation of curiosity, she changed her step of course and followed after them as they turned into an alleyway. She stayed in the corner, not following them further in the alleyway as she listened to their conversation.

"Don't let it get to you." Bakugo's friend said.

"He's like an idiot dreaming like a kid!" Bakugo exclaimed as his voice echoed in the alleyway followed by a small explosion that made Hayami winced for her ears. "Watching him pisses me off!"

Something clicked in the girl's mind while listening to their conversation. As she connected two and twos together, she finally understand why Midoriya was crying earlier.

Midoriya was bullied by _this_ person called Katsuki.

After that realization, she felt disappointed when she remembered the conversation she had earlier with Midoriya.

 _"Bakugo Katsuki, he was a friend of ours..."_

 _And I made friends with this kind of person?_

Her train of thought stopped when she heard a familiar wriggling noise. Something disgusting that makes her want to grind her teeth because of its level of cringe.

She gasped in recognition as she took a quick peek at the alleyway. She widened her eyes in confirmation as she saw the sludge villain, materializing to its former form while Bakugo standing in front of it, his back turned from it.

 _How did it get away from All Might?!_ She could only thought in disbelief as she gets out from her hiding place, sprinting towards the blonde-haired boy.

"Bakugo-san!"

Her warning had already fell deaf to everyone's ears. Bakugo was unable to react in time and was already engulfed by the villain.

Hayami stopped herself when she saw her supposed to be childhood friend being captured by the villain. A certain déjà vu overcome her senses - seeing a familiar scene in front of her when she was unable to do anything to help the boy.

But this time is different. She is more-or-less scared of this villain anymore. The only problem in this situation, is that she doesn't know the countermeasure against this type of Quirk. A Quirk that makes its host turn into a fluid is - in a sense - quite an overpowered power. It is quite a shame that he used it for his villainous acts rather than making good deeds using this quirk.

 _The perspective of a villain is never wrong._

If heroes are the _glorified troublemakers_ \- then the villains are the _justified troublemakers_.

Because they felt that what they were doing was right in their twisted morals.

Being gifted with unsuitable Quirk against this villain makes her miserable. If only she had an elemental quirk like ice, this would be done in a flash.

She looked around her surrounding to see if there's an appropriate weapon for her to use. Her sharp eyes caught the attention of the metal pipe resting in the corner. She sprinted towards it while she rolled to dodge the attack of the sludge villain.

She grabbed the pipe and positioned it in her hands like a spear. Having a limited knowledge of weapon martial arts, she had no choice but to use her inadequate information against the villain as she combined her experience along with her unprompted plan.

She ran to charge in a stabbing position, a generic attack for a spear as she pushed it forward to attack the villain, carefully not hitting the blonde. As expected, it was stuck from his liquidized body. While it was stuck, she grabbed the collar of Bakugo's uniform who seemed surprise at her action.

"Bakugo-san! Grab my wrist if you want out from there!" She exclaimed to him while struggling to pull the person she wants to save.

She felt a tight grip on her arm. Hayami took this with a positive outlook that he wants to be saved but it wasn't what it seemed to be.

 _"Let..."_

The girl was too distracted to hear Bakugo's words. She started to get panic when her legs was getting entangled by the villain as she struggled against its grasp.

 _"LET YOUR HANDS GO OF ME!"_

As if she was facing the sun, intense brightness overwhelmed her vision followed by a loud explosion that deafened her ears. She was violently thrown back at the wind pressure created by the explosion, hitting herself at the nearby concrete wall. Black smoke clouded her vision as it started to cover her surroundings.

She coughed violently when she accidentally inhaled the dark polluted smoke. She struggled to get up to her feet while trying to shake off the dizziness in her head. She took a glance around her surrounding as she saw the effects of that large explosion. Small fires scattered everywhere, burning from intensity of the explosion earlier.

Hayami staggered as she seek for support at the nearby wall, managing her balance a bit. There's still a loud ring to her ears and white spots still lingers in her vision. She turn her head left and right, struggling to look around for the villain she just fought.

Thanks to the explosion earlier, it seems like she was thankfully saved from being another victim of the sludge villain.

 _It seemed to be Bakugo-san's quirk..._ Hayami pondered a bit from what happened earlier since the villain didn't use it against her during the first encounter.

But...

The smoke still didn't dispersed around them as it hinders her search from searching of the villain. Instead of the villain and the captured Bakugo, her eyes caught of the two people that was with Bakugo a moment ago.

"Hey!" She tried to call them. "HEY!" She called once again, a bit louder.

She seem to catch the attention of one of them as he turned to her.

"Get out of here!" She shouted, subtly ordering them. "Get out of here and ask for help!"

Since the girl can't match the villain, all she can do is ask for help.

"But...!" the boy stammered, while still trembling in fear as he pointed at something. The girl quickly turned her attention towards it and dodged the attack at the last second.

But since the girl was still affected from the explosion, a prickling pain was felt all over her body especially on her back. She lost her footing and fell into the ground. She struggled to get up to her feet but her ear twitch at the incoming attack towards her as she forced her body to move forward and barely dodged it.

Hayami is already at her limit. She can no longer move her body. Her stress catching up to her. She may have the toughness because of being in the martial arts club but this experience is way different. Back at the club when it was all fun and giggles but this time is a matter of life-and-death situation. A serious situation.

This should have the time when the hero saves the day.

It wasn't like she had no faith of all heroes. She had no resentment against them. It's just... despite being called a superhero by the society, they are still human. They can save someone if they can reach them but those they can't...

Well...

Like in this kind of situation. But the difference between the comic book superheroes and this world's superheroes is that the people in this world, everyone can be anything. Gifted with superpowers, dreams can become a reality.

 _No, it's not._

 _"Girl, are you okay?"_

Thus, the saviors had finally arrived.

The hero with wooden mask - Kamui Woods found her lying at the pavement, a girl who was wounded and a damsel in distress in need to be saved. Hayami was relieved when heroes made their arrival at the scene. She sighs in relief when she saw them, doing their duty as a hero.

 _Finally, they can save my friend._

She blinked at what she thought. _Friend?_

Kamui Woods gently put her to the side - away from the sludge villain to avoid further casualty. As she was put there, she realized that there was already a gathering crowd of people nearby and knows why the heroes arrived at the scene.

She watched the fight in daze between the heroes and the villain. All she can process in her mind is that they are doing their job to defeat the villain, their duty as a hero. She wasn't closely paying attention to what was happening in front of her but at least she was aware of the situation.

She encountered the sludge villain twice today and coincidentally, two of her _supposed to be_ childhood friend was their target. It makes her laugh at this type of coincidence. As if fate forced them to meet for the unprecedented future. A future she would never expect that inspired from her present action.

Speaking of action, it seems like the heroes had no idea how to defeat this villain. _Oh, that's bad._ She thought quite distantly to them though feeling a tinge of sympathy for them.

It seems like they changed their tactic from 'defeat the villain' to 'let's buy some time for someone to arrive' when they battled against it. With Bakugo's quirk constantly going off in attempt to get out from the grasp of the villain, the heroes was torn how to save the hostage boy. Because of the boy's quirk, the place turned into a landmine, hindering them.

Hayami watched scene in front of her absent-mindedly as it reminded her of yesterday's incident when Mt. Lady saves the day.

 _Ah, speaking of the devil._ She actually arrived with her gigantic form. _Oh hey_ , she was useless because it needs to be two lanes for her to cross. Inconvenience of a quirk. Can't blame her.

While she was resting in the corner while also acting as a spectator, a certain thought came to her.

 _If Midoriya-kun wants to be a hero, then what kind of action he would do?_

A green flash went past in front of her. As if time was with her side, the green flash in front of her was too familiar for her own good. It kept replaying in her mind and manage the identity of the person who went past to her.

 _Midoriya Izuku._

As she snapped out of her daze and suddenly gained strength of her body, she stood up. She attempted chased after him but was held back by another hero, caging her in their arms to prevent her from moving forward.

"Are you crazy?! Do you want to die with him?!"

"But my friend—"

There it is again – 'friend'.

 _My friends…_ That's right. Midoriya Izuku is her friend. He always is. It goes the same with Bakugo Katsuki. Despite his disparagement. The three of them are friends, despite its dysfunctional nature. No matter the experience they had with each other will always remembered in their hearts. Their childhood, the memories, their nostalgic bonds…

The separation…

She wanted it back. She _will_ get it back. Their friendship to each other that was lost sea of separation that she can't remember.

But…

The girl, for some reason, can't help but wonder…

If she was separated from them in the past, them what kind of friend was she to them?

Hayami panicked as she struggled against the hero. She was confused. She was confused of the action made by her friend when he ran to save Bakugo.

Where did he get that courage to save the person who tormented him? Where did he get it when it was the same villain who attacked him? Where?

Tears started to gather in her eyes. She could only watch the scene in distress, watching her friends being on risk - one trying to save someone and the other trying to save himself. She reach out to them as tears blurred her vision. Why can't she do anything? Why can't she do anything to save them? Why?

Hayami Eshima was weak. Living her life in idleness affected her as a person. She was even punished for it as she repeated a grade for her laziness, always unmotivated. It is her flaw as a person.

But if her teacher is right, then there is a potential to change.

But her greatest flaw was not her laziness, but in fact, it was the refusal to be helped. She'd rather do the things herself than asked for helped even if it was something that she cannot tolerate.

Hayami Eshima is that kind of person. She's a lone wolf. Always reserved and sometimes cold. She'd rather endure the things that was cause by her and resolve it by herself. Absent-minded but idealistic. Can be helpful if she wants to. She's an independent person.

An independent but kind person. If Bakugo Katsuki and Midoriya Izuku are her friends then she will do anything to save them.

 _ **"ALL MIGHT!"**_

The gathering crowd gasp. The heroes turned their attention in shock at the pink-haired girl when she shouted.

 _ **"PLEASE SAVE MY FRIENDS!**_

Hayami Eshima screamed with all her might. This idea of hers was not something she was expecting to do.

 _Asking for someone._

As if like a whirlwind, All Might appeared to save the day, ultimately saving her friends. The crowd gasp. The heroes dropped their jaws in shock, unable to believe that he appeared out of nowhere as if he was summoned by the call of the girl.

 _Their greatest protector has arrived._

Just like what happened under the bridge, it was resolved in a flash with a single punch. All Might blew him away with the wind pressure created from his punch but with much power. With only a single punch, it caused an updraft in the sky causing the rain to pour on them.

When everyone saw All Might's gallant action, everyone cheered. The Top Hero has secured his success as he raised his hand in victory. An everyday image for the civilians.

She was impressed. _Hayami Eshima_ was impressed that she never thought he would actually appear from her call even though it was done in a whim. She smiled at his back in gratitude, unable to vocalize her thanks at the roaring crowd of cheers.

 _Thank you, All Might. I'll be forever in your debt for saving my friends._

Hayami and Midoriya walked silently to their homes, not knowing what to say to each other. The sunset brilliantly shone at the sky in warm orange with their shadows following behind them.

* * *

Earlier when the villain was finally captured by the police, the green-haired boy got scolded by the heroes for his reckless action. While Hayami was left alone to her own as doctors tended her wounds.

All in all, it was a happy ending. The hero was praised and the villain was punished, as always.

The two of them was silent, occupied by their own thoughts especially what happened. An event that will left a scar for those who are involved in that incident.

 _"Deku!"_

 _Deku?_ She thought in question as both of them turned around behind them.

It was Bakugo Katsuki who seemed to be pissed for some reason.

"I never asked you for help and you didn't help me! Got it?! I was fine by myself. You're a Quirkless failure playing without a full deck! Don't think you can look down on me! Are you trying to make me owe you? Don't look down on me, you damn nerd!"

Hayami was completely overwhelmed by his rant that she never closely listened to him.

"And you—!"

The girl flinched when Bakugo turned his attention to her. The two of them stared each other for a while before he turned around in the opposite direction, grumbling under his breath. Hayami could only sweat drop at his behavior towards her.

 _I wonder what's wrong with him._

Hayami turned her attention to Midoriya who looked down in gloom. She put her hand to his shoulder as she comforted him.

"Don't let his words affect you, Midoriya-kun." She said with a gentle smile. "What you did back there was quite heroic of you."

The boy blushed at her words as he covered his face in embarrassment. The girl could only look at him in confusion, wondering what is wrong with him.

The two of them continued their walk. Heavy silence occurred between them as the sunset brightened their way. When Hayami was about to break the silence, All Might suddenly appeared in the corner, startling the cat girl.

 _"All Might?!"_ Both of them exclaimed in disbelief. "Why are you here? You were surrounded with reporters earlier." Midoriya continued as he looked around, searching if there's someone stalking the hero.

All Might laughed. "Getting away from them was a piece of cake. Why? Because I am All Might—"

Something unexpected happened when All Might transformed into a strange appearance.

" _All Might...?_ " Hayami trailed off, as if she saw something unbelievable while her eyes is still wide in shock.

"Ah—!" Midoriya panicked. "This is, um, you see, Shiichan, er..." Midoriya fumbled around for explanation. Hayami raised her hand to him.

"No, never mind, Midoriya-kun." She said as she tried to calm him down. "I'll... just forget what I saw." The girl is too stressed to take so much for today.

Hayami started to walk ahead for her destination before a tired yet familiar voice called to her.

"Young Hayami."

Hearing the weary voice calling behind her, she turned her head in response, facing the skeleton-like small yet tall form of All Might.

"Until we meet again."

Under the illumination of the sun behind her, she simply raised her eyebrow at his choice of words, nodding to his words in confusion. She turned around to continue her walk, the gentle wind caressing her form, trying not give in to the temptation of her curiosity to listen to their conversation. But she wished against it. She felt like she shouldn't meddle to some personal business of a top hero, even if just for now.

 _I guess, it's just another day for me, huh?_

She smiled to herself, walking ahead from the two people behind her, unaware of their talk as she left them.

* * *

Many things happened in that week for Hayami Eshima. An experience that will either left a scar of reminder or washed away like a river. Even if it was a slight of change but that change will surely inspire her greatly as a person. Meeting someone from her past was something she would never expect she'll encounter. Her old friends that slowly changed in the passage of time as one still searching for his joy and one drowned in his arrogance.

Hayami Eshima will change. After all, change is a natural development of every human being. Whether the result of her development is either good or bad, the girl will _surely_ change.

Along with the potential of her missing memories.

* * *

 **Did you like it? _Did you, readers, like it?_ This fanfic of mine?**

 **As you can see (or read), _her_ character has a lot of contradiction, which is my intention to begin with. _A hypocrite character,_ probably. This is my first time writing this type of character so I guess that's about it haha.**

 _ **Have some thoughts? Please leave a review! Feedback is also appreciated!**_

 _ **Until next chapter!**_

 **EDITED (2/24/19)**


	2. Inspiration

**I'm back with an update, yay!**

 **So, uh, I have mixed feelings about this chapter. I struggled when I started writing this but I guess it came out good!**

 **More author's note after the chapter!**

 **Happy reading!**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Inspiration**

" _Never let yourself get too comfortable. Seek challenges, push yourself and ignore what others think."_

 _(Gymaholic)_

* * *

 _ **You can become a hero.**_

Those were the words uttered to a person who lived his life as he experienced sentiment, always looked down because of his inability of power.

A sentence uttered from a person who lived his life showing hope to others and hide his fear through his smile and destined to be never understood by the masses who looked up to him.

 _Those were the words uttered to someone who longed it to hear for a long time._

* * *

 _Hayami Eshima_ woke up from her dreamless sleep. She blinked her eyes to adjust her sight of the ceiling above her before she sat up from her bed and stretched her arms above her head. She reached out to her glasses while yawning to her other hand before she got up.

She paid no mind to the mess of her bed as she walked up to her bedroom door with her eyes still closed from sleepiness. She nearly lost her balance when she unintendedly forced it open, startling her awake to regain her balance.

She silently went to the dining room with her hair still with messy curls while searching something for breakfast.

"Good morning, Eshima-kun!"

Hayami turned her half-awake eyes to the person who greeted her in the living room. She saw her aunt, _her guardian_ , lounging at the sofa while watching whatever show it is so early in the morning at the TV.

"Morning." She greeted half-heartedly, sleepiness still lingers at her body before she noticed a bacon and eggs already prepared at the table.

 _Susume Mai, her aunt and her current guardian living with her._

 _Wait, huh?_ Now that she finally consume breakfast and regained most of her energy to prepare for most of the day, she noticed. She put her plate to the dishwasher when she's done before she walked up to her aunt behind the sofa.

"Why aren't you at work today?" She asked her aunt.

The dark-haired woman tilted her head back as she saw her niece peering down at her in curiosity. "Ah, that's right. I forgot to tell you. I asked for a break for a week."

"And they accepted it?"

"Surprisingly, yeah." Her aunt shrugged while letting out a laugh.

 _Then, why are you up so early?_ Hayami pondered but she brushed it off, thinking that waking up so early must have been her reflexive habit.

Hayami walked around the sofa as she took a seat beside her aunt who made a room for her to sit. The girl joined her aunt, watching the TV show in front of them. A comfortable silence settle both of them. After a few moments of silence, Susume spoke to her niece.

"How was school this week?" She casually asked while not tearing her eyes away from the TV.

Hayami froze in her seat when she remembered yesterday's incident. Yesterday, she can still remember the lecture of her teacher when she submitted her paper very late from the promised deadline.

" _What did I just told you? 'No extended deadline'? And yet, here you are, passing this paper a day late than I assigned for you to pass?" Misa-sensei_ calmly _inquired._

 _Calmly._

She shivered at the memory. If words were bullets, she would have been already buried six feet under.

Well… _before that_ , she met _Midoriya Izuku._ Her ( _supposed to be)_ childhood friend as she encountered him by pure coincidence through his hero notebook. There's also _Bakugo Katsuki_ , whom she tried to save from the sludge villain.

And _All Might,_ of course _._ She talked with him for a while before he literally jumped away in front of her.

 _Well, to put it in a few words..._

"A lot." She answered, while already expecting the following question.

"Like what?" Hayami sighed. _I knew it._

She told her what happened while purposely missed out some details in order not to worry her aunt. She explained the sludge incident, encounters of her childhood friend, All Might, and of course, the earful she received from her homeroom teacher.

While she told her this, her aunt never looked away from the TV, not even casting a glance towards her. Hayami looked at the TV in front of her then to her aunt beside her with a frown. _Is the show in the TV more interesting than mine?_ She sighed in disappointment as she joined her aunt watching the TV, feeling dejected.

 _I... wanted to become a_ hero.

Midoriya's words echoed in her thoughts. _Hero..._ Indeed, that word invoke some thoughts in her mind but _where is it from?_ Where is the cause of this thoughts even if it's not the one she wanted to pursue?

 _Wait._ She turned her head to her aunt. _Maybe because of her?_ Her aunt was a former hero in the past before she ultimately retired to take care of her _miserable_ niece. She ended up searching a job where she can have time with her niece to take care for her. Whereas the hero job is tightly scheduled job and is always in high demand.

While Hayami was grateful what her aunt did for her—quitting her hero job and everything—but it is a bit of a shame though _._ She quit her dream job (her aunt told her that was her 'dream job') that she worked hard and finally attained it but only to retire just to take care a single child.

Well... speaking of heroes…

During that incident with the sludge villain, she recalled her actions when she tried to save Bakugo from the villain's clutches—even though she failed to do it. As she remembered those… _gallant_ action of hers, a thought came to her that _maybe_ she _is_ qualified to become a hero.

She shook her head furiously. _No._ She denied the thought. _There's no way I can become one._ She scolded herself. Just because she made those actions to save her… _friend_ , there's no way that she's automatically qualified to become one. That was just her adrenaline speaking that she made those… _heroic_ actions.

Besides, the hero job is quite a demanding one. It means—a lot of work will be put into her hands and the responsibility of _always_ saving someone, running around the city to search any potential is already tiring to imagine for her. _There's no way that she would imagine herself doing_ that.

But… back then, she remembered Midoriya's sudden appearance, sprinting towards Bakugo despite being powerless. Regret started clawing her heart as she recalled. Compared to her, _he_ was the most _heroic_. The very definition of a hero should be. Despite being Quirkless, his actions to save Bakugo was the very definition of a _gallant_ person, while she just watched lamely at the side to witness _him_ , trying to save his friend.

Tears started to gather in her eyes, remembering those moments and swiftly rubbed her eyes, pretending to run her hands to her hair. No matter how much she tried to suppress the memory that incident, the image of Midoriya's back running ahead and her hand reaching out to him, it always reminds her that _she_ was powerless one. Unable to move, unable to rise, suppressing herself because she thought she wasn't useful during that incident.

 _It reminded her that she was weak-hearted person this whole time._

She sighed, putting her elbow to her thighs as she put her chin to her opened hands, mulling over the fact that she had no choice but to accept it.

But still… those actions she did that incident… she can't exactly discredit herself. She thought she was pretty cool that day. She remembered when she used the pipe like a spear, stabbing the liquidized villain (that wasn't really effective) and grabbed Bakugo, tried to yank him away from the villain and then—

" _Let your hands go off me!"_

 _Oh._ She realized when she finally remembered Bakugo's words when she tried to save him.

Now that she remembered about it, it must have been hard to some heroes to save someone who are unwilling to save by them. They must have thought they can save themselves because they had a strong Quirk in them. When in reality, everyone need some little saving for themselves. _Unlike Bakugo._

Crossing her arms, she huffed in exasperation. Even though she tried to save him, he wasn't grateful at the slightest. But judging from the small encounter she had with him after that incident when he started yelling at Midoriya, he doesn't seemed to be a pleasant person.

As a sudden burst of curiosity came her, she wondered how heroes handled those situation.

"Susume-san," She turned to her aunt. "Can I ask you a question?"

Her aunt didn't broke her attention from the TV. "You already did. Ask away."

"What is it like to save someone who didn't want to be saved?"

Susume finally pulled her attention to her, frowning. "Where did that thought came from?"

She hesitated. "…out of nowhere, I guess."

Susume looked at her suspiciously before she crossed her arms in thought. "Who didn't want to be saved? Hmm, let's see… a pain in the neck?"

Hayami frowned. "Aren't you just guessing it?"

"Well, yeah, I did. Look, there's no person in the world who didn't want—"her aunt stopped her words. "Actually, it is a pain the neck."

"How so?"

"They are usually prideful people. Arrogant ones. There're also…" Susume looked at her strangely. "who thought they don't deserved to be saved."

She blinked at the last part. _What does she mean by that?_

"Look, I don't know where that thought of yours came from—"her aunt sighed exasperatedly. "I never saved someone who were pretty unwilling in the past so I don't know if my words are accurate or not."

"It's not about being accurate about it…" Hayami muttered before an idea came to her. "Then, I'll tell you another one, what is like to be a hero?"

Susume looked at her niece incredulously. "A hero?! I thought you're not fond of them?"

"It's _not_ about me being fond of them," She tried to explain. "I'm asking you, as a former hero, what it like to be one."

Her aunt narrowed her eyes. "Is this your so-called curiosity, right?"

She stayed silent.

"That won't do any good, Eshima-kun," her aunt sighed, shaking her head. "That's your usual bad habit. You always let your curiosity lead your way."

The girl sighed. It's the usual lecture of her aunt about her bad habits. Hayami has been scolded many times to not give in to her curiosity and at least give them privacy (to other people) and leave them alone. But, to the girl, she knew she would rebel against her aunt in impulse and would please her curiosity anywhere she could.

Well, even if she would try to stop, there would urges (whenever if she heard something interesting) to poke her nose around even if she doesn't want to.

"To be honest, I _am_ curious." She answered after a moment of contemplation, looking up in wonder. "Why does people want to become a hero? I mean, why risk your life when there's a safer way to do it? Why not become a doctor if you wanted to save lives? There are some parts of it that I don't understand myself." She answered honestly, pouring her thoughts out.

 _Especially Midoriya despite being Quirkless._

"That's why, I want to find out what it is like to be one—a hero."

Susume stared at her. "So you wanted to know," she pointed herself. "Through me?"

Hayami nodded. "Yes."

She stared at her niece in wonder. "Sometimes, I find your honesty fascinating, Eshima-kun."

The girl blinked in confusion.

"Okay, I'll tell you about it," her aunt settled. "But it won't be just about me, there's some bits of All Might too."

Hayami tried to hide her eye roll by closing her eyes as she sighed through her nose. _Of course, it is._

"During my days as a hero was not exactly the happiest part of my life. Being a hero is pretty hard. I always run around saving someone in distress. But," She put on a proud smile. "I've never regretted being one. Back then when I was a hero, a person taught me a lesson. He taught me that being a hero is not about saving people—being a hero is to give inspiration to others, assuring that they are always protected. Do you know who I am talking about?"

Hayami already knew who it was. "All Might?"

Susume nodded. "All Might is a literal embodiment of a word 'hero'. He even called himself as a natural-born hero as if he was destined to become one." Then her aunt frowned. "Though, I always find him weird sometimes…"

The pinkette leaned closer at the last part. "What?"

"Oh, nothing. Anyway, back when I was still a hero, I really admired All Might because he would always show a true spirit of self-sacrifice. When I saw him in the field before, all I can think is, 'Ah, so this is a true hero'."

 _All Might's influence really had no bounds, isn't it?_ Hayami pondered as she listened. His charisma was so immense that it influenced a lot of people, whether if they are a civilian or a hero. But, in _Hayami Eshima's_ understanding, there can be different interpretation of a word ' _hero'_.

Like she said earlier, if _hero_ is about saving people, isn't a doctor no exception? They save people through medical means and they also worked hard to be one through strenuous studies _._ And also there are firefighters, they save people and properties from getting burned. Aren't these people deserved to be called a ' _hero'_ too?

This is one of the reason why Hayami herself doesn't want to become a _hero_ because - as she said before - they seemed the _glorified troublemakers. A_ nd also, she doesn't want to overshadow someone who worked so hard because how popular a _hero_ is.

 _The hard work that wasn't acknowledge is something that she doesn't like the most._

But for those who decides to be one, she will _acknowledge_ that. Wanting to become a hero is not a bad thing itself, but the huge catch in it is because it carries a lot risk and she admired that resolve.

It was their own decision and they chose that - after all, _it was none of her business._

 _I guess that's how society works in this kind of world._

 _ **"Is All Might really a true hero?"**_

"What...?" The question from her niece caught Susume off guard.

Hayami gasped as she covered her mouth. "No, it's nothing! It just slipped out! Sorry!" She fumbled an apology as she avoided her gaze from her aunt.

 _The girl had no doubt in All Might._ She had no _doubt_ in All Might's ability to save people. She liked him as a hero because of how he smiled endlessly to give hope and courage to the masses. She had no _doubt_ in him to the man who called himself as a symbol of peace.

After all, he saved her ( _supposed to be)_ childhood friends.

But, she's confused. Even though she had no hesitation in him, where did the thought came from?

"O…kay." Susume hesitantly let go of the topic. "So, is your 'curiosity'," she made a quotation mark by curling her fingers, "satisfied with my explanation?"

"Yeah, sort of." Even though half of it was about All Might. "It was okay."

"Good. Now tell me," She pinned her narrowed gaze at the girl. "What was the reason that you wanted to know why is it like to be a hero?"

 _Oh no._ She forgot that her aunt was like her. Though, the older woman was not only motivated by curiosity alone, hers was driven by many things. It can be for a gossip, worries nor many _questionable_ things that she doesn't want to know. And it never escaped the fact that her aunt is now sucking for information from her.

"Um…" Hayami hesitated. She doesn't know what to say. Heck, she doesn't even know the reason why she's asking about it. It was just in-a-whim curiosity that she asked that question. She decided to answer honestly. "I don't know…"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

" _Yes_."

"Not even _him?_ "

She instantly thought about Midoriya. "I… yes."

"Who is this _him?"_

"He's—"Wait. _Wait a second._ " _How—"_

"You wanted to become a hero, right?"

Hayami gasped at her words, shaking her head. "No, I'm not…!"

Susume shook her head, strangely smiling at her niece's reaction. "You may not noticed this yourself but whenever you asked questions, it is always related to what you had in your mind. And strangely enough, you're asking me how to handle someone who doesn't want to be saved _and_ what it is like to be one. It's already obvious what's in your head. _You wanted to become a hero, aren't you?"_

Hayami felt her face flaming red. She can't believe she actually got exposed by aunt. And she never even realized how perceptive her aunt. That's to be expected, her aunt is like her, having a perception is sort of a requirement for that. Giving in to her aunt's words, she grumbled under breath. "Yes."

"And this is related to _him?_ "

"Yes." She realized that her aunt sneaked a question earlier about _him_ and her mind just instantly wired to Midoriya without notice. She inwardly hit herself.

"Why? Why do you want to become a hero?"

Hayami sighed, now _completely_ giving in. "Do you remember what I told you about the sludge incident?"

* * *

 _Susume Mai_ furrowed her eyebrows in thought. _The sludge incident?_ She remembered her niece talking about it earlier, along with the story of her reunited childhood friends and her homeroom teacher.

The sludge incident… she does remember the incident being broadcasted in the TV yesterday. As she remembered, three junior high was involved in that event. She widened her eyes in realization.

"You were there? As in, _in there?_ Fighting the villain? What are you thinking, Eshima?! And also, why did you omit it when you told me about it earlier?!"

She saw the girl winced at her increasing voice but she had no care for it for now. _Why is she in there in the first place? That was far from her school!_

"Well…" the girl started. "Before that happened, I met… _him_ in Aldera Junior High and we walked home together but then we were attacked by the sludge villain. Ah, don't worry about it, we were saved by All Might."

 _Oh, yeah, she did mention about it earlier._ She wondered why she somehow missed that fact earlier.

"All Might and I kinda talk to each other. And he woke _him_ up, then they talked to each other and then All Might left… along with _him_."

Susume nodded, urging her to continue.

"I walked around the city and I bumped to this… _other friend of mine_. We went by each other and I was about to walked away but then they mentioned… _him_ so I started to follow them."

She rolled her eyes. _Of course._

"When I followed them, the sludge villain appeared before them. I don't know how it escaped from All Might but it's just… suddenly there! The villain attacked _that other friend of mine_ and went to save him. I did and I tried but he refused me so…!" Her niece raised her hands and shrugged. "I tried my best and I collapsed before heroes arrived to save the day."

She hummed. "So this was the incident that makes you want to become a hero?"

Eshima looked down, resigned. "Yes, because I didn't go after… _him._ And also, I think it was kinda cool. _"_

The older woman chuckled before she dropped it. "So, it was regret? Because you wanted to redeem yourself?"

The girl growled, frowning angrily. " _No._ "

"Because it was cool?"

"Kind of, but no."

"Because you wanted to save people?"

She scoffed. "No."

"Was it because of your curiosity?"

"…"

"I knew it, Eshima—"

"Because I am weak." The pinkette interrupted. "I wasn't able to save him—go after him because I am weak. Instead, it was the heroes who did it. Heroes who does courageous things, does it instead of me. But I am no hero. I am just a girl, a damsel in distress, like a princess waiting at the side for the conflict to pass. I—"She took a deep breath. " _I don't think I deserve to be a hero."_

"What? What makes you think like that? Who said that?" Susume looked at the girl in disbelief.

"…no one. It's just me."

The woman put her hand in Eshima's shoulder. "Out of all people who said that, you're the first one who did. Look, for me— _everyone_ thinks that they also don't deserve to become a hero. That's why, they worked hard for it. They chase after a potential within them, challenging themselves through hardships if they are worthy to become one. The heroes you see in the TV? I'm sure they used to think they are worthless, useless or hopeless but what do you think happened? They rose, they overcome it, and they conquered it! Don't get discouraged, Eshima-kun. People who came from the lowest, they eventually learn to stand on their own."

Her niece looked at her wide-eyed. "…thanks." She paused before she continued. "So, that means there's a possibility for me to become a hero?"

She scoffed at her question. "If you asked that question to other people, I'm sure they will look at you as if you have grown another head." Eshima looked offended. Susume laughed. "Duh! Of course, you are! Did you forget that we are living in a hero-oriented society?"

"…right."

"Don't worry about it! No one will judge you for it."

"Yeah."

"…Eshima-kun?" She looked at the young girl worriedly. The look she had on her face doesn't seemed convinced. "Is something wrong?"

"Am I even prepared to take the risk?" The girl asked with a bothered look. "Am I even… What if I just run away from the scene? What if I can't save _that_ person that I wanted to save?"

Susume gave her a pointed look, shaking her head. "You're overthinking, kid. That won't get you nowhere. That's why we have hero schools in Japan. To train the future heroes and practice their principles." She gave her a reassuring smile. "Like I said, don't worry about it. Let the current problem face the current you."

Eshima pouted. "That didn't answered my question but okay I guess."

Silence fell between them, the noises from the TV providing the sound in the room. They awkwardly rearranged themselves in the sofa, watching whatever show that was shown in the TV. It was still dawn, the purplish scenery from the window catching Susume's eyes as she looked beyond the window.

It was a weird conversation, Susume decided. Her niece not being fond of heroes was pretty evident to her but the girl suddenly asking about _them_ came out of nowhere. ' _He'_ seems to be the motivation of her niece sudden interest about heroes, sparking something within the girl. She sighed through her nose. She still don't know who is this 'him' person and she doesn't really know whether she should be thankful or hate him about it.

No, she had no bad opinions about her niece trying to become a hero but… it was just very bizarre that she's trying to become someone that she's not fond of. She inwardly shook her head. Despite the honesty that her niece possessed, there are way too many things that she doesn't talk about, even though she knows she's not trying hiding it from her.

Well, Eshima… is a quiet kid, after all.

…

Speaking about _quiet_ , now she's getting sleepy, slouching in the sofa inappropriately. Sighing drowsily, she remembered a phone call that came so early that it completely woke her up that she can't no longer sleep back again. Feeling a headache coming, she's very thankful that she requested a week break and would _surely_ dedicate that time to sleep comfortably.

" _That's right, Mai-kun. Is there an isolated area where_ _ **we**_ _can train?"_

 _Oh._ An intrusive thought came to her as she recalled the words from the phone call earlier.

And then, an idea came to her...

"Eshima-kun, do you have something to do today?" She asked as she stood up from the sofa.

Hayami looked up to her. "No, nothing at all. Why?"

"Let's go out for a bit."

* * *

 _"Why are we here...?"_

Hayami suddenly found herself looking at the horizon filled with garbage _._ Since it's a bit early in the morning, they were no single people they encountered along the way (which she was thankful for because she haven't comb her hair at all) as they arrived at this place that her aunt led her. _It's a beach,_ she remembered her aunt said but she can only scratch her head in confusion. She saw no image of a beach in front of her.

"Of course, to train you."

"To train me?!" The girl exclaimed with in disbelief what her aunt said. Well, she can understand the concern of her aunt but—"B-but I'm not even sure if I wanted to become a hero...!" She tried to explain that she wasn't ready for it and tried to discourage her aunt to train her – even if it's just for today.

Susume shook her head as she put her hand to her hips. "Kid, you may be in a martial arts club, but it's not enough for you to grow as a _fighter!_ " She said intensely with a clench first, dramatically.

"Then how am I gonna train here if it's full of garbage...?"

"It's obvious." Susume huffed, matter of factly. "Not many people come here so one will see you since you have your little reputation of being a 'lazy one' in your school and _I know how shy_ you are when you are seen, right?" She teased her niece with a smirk.

Hayami felt her face grow warm at her aunt's statement. It's true that she had a bit of reputation in her school, infamously called the 'lazy cat' (because of how she looked) but that's not important right now! Shouldn't she give her own niece a bit of fresh air because she's confused of her choice what she wanted in her life from now on?!

The older woman suddenly laughed when she saw the reaction of the girl. "Don't worry, I'm not being serious about training you right now."

"What?!" Hayami exclaimed loudly—visibly annoyed.

"Unexpected problem calls for an unexpected solution. If you wanted to become a hero _, always expect the unexpected."_

 _Huh? How is this related—oh._

"When you said that you _will_ train me—that was a test...?"

Her aunt nodded. "Of course."

"But I'm not even sure if I wanted to become a hero…"

"Don't mull over it, kid. You'll get used to it."

 _You'll get used to it, she said._ She stared at her aunt, unimpressed.

But there's still one thing she wanted to ask.

"Mai-san, since you said that you're not serious about training me _right now,_ " she emphasized. "Were you serious about the _training_ part?"

"Yes, I was serious about that part. And the reason why I haven't started training you right now because we're waiting for someone— _or them._ "

Hayami wanted hanged her head in chagrin at the 'training' part, instead she tilted her head curiously. "Who?"

"That person..." Her aunt smirked, pulling out her phone from her back pocket. With the sun illuminating behind her figure as shadows casted over her face, making her appear sinister that she already is with her glowing golden eyes.

"... _is All Might."_

She gaped at her aunt.

* * *

 **MONDAY – AFTER SCHOOL**

 _"When All Might-san started training his disciple, will also the start of your own, Eshima-kun."_

Hayami can still vaguely remember the words from her aunt yesterday at _Dagoba Municipal Beach Park._ The mentioned beach that will become the venue of her— _or their_ training with All Might's disciple.

 _All Might's disciple..._

 _Weird._ She never heard anything about All Might having a disciple. From TV to radio, there was no mention of it including from her classmate who were always updated about heroes—not a single word even in her school. She didn't even hear a single rumor about it.

 _If there's no mention about it, then it's probably recent._ That's what Hayami concluded as she contemplated while walking in the sidewalk afterschool. With her _curiosity-based information network_ , there should be no single word escape from her _ears._

Her train of thought halted to stop.

 _...wait—_

Now that she thought about it, it was weird seeing All Might in this city. Out of all places, he _chose_ this city. _Perhaps he's doing hero work here from now on?_ It's a possibility but she can't help but think that there must another reason why he's here.

 _Then what is the reason? Why here of all the places he can go?_ _Why would he even need a disciple in the first place? I mean, isn't he already the strongest hero?_

She scoffed. That's right. Why would he even need one? If he needs one, then that means—

 _Wait, wait, wait...!_

She backtracks as another thought came to her. A rather absurd speculation came to her but she can't help but ponder. _Is_ _All Might dying that he wanted to pass his mantle to another generation?_

 _...like two generations crashing to each other for an inevitable future. Old generation of heroes - All Might, and the up and all newer generation - Midoriya Izuku. Inspiration and dreams seems to collide, weaving a new future for everyone's sake..._

Hayami stopped in her tracks, stunned where her memory ended up. She remembered the conversation between All Might and Midoriya under the bridge where they were saved.

 _Wait, don't tell me his disciple is..._

It _may be_ impossible but not _entirely_ impossible. She considered this possibility to her head as she continued her stroll. A certain flash of scene came to her mind as she remembered All Might's tall, lanky form of his when she left them during sunset a few days ago.

Perhaps when she left _that day_ was the start of their master-disciple relationship?

As she continued her steps, she found herself looking at the horizon of a sea full with garbage covering the sand, making it looked like it wasn't a beach at all. She stared at the sunset as it covered the sky with unusually pink hues while the sun slowly disappearing into the horizon. Reflecting its shine to the vast ocean as it descends its journey into the dark night.

 _Light and darkness._ _Hero and villain. Two sides of the same coin._

She walked away from the beach, with her thoughts lingering of the green-haired boy who wanted to become a hero. An unattainable goal of his while considering the possibility that _he_ was under the wing of a man called the symbol of peace.

" _So, it was regret? Because you wanted to redeem yourself?"_

 _Maybe, her aunt was right. She probably wanted to redeem herself._

* * *

 **TIME SKIP - WEEK END**

Footsteps echoed at the pavement through the dawn as two people walked to their destination. _Hayami Eshima_ yawned while following her aunt to the _beach_ , signaling the start of their training. She hanged her head with her eyes still closed from sleepiness, while straining her _ears_ to listen her aunt's voice about the aspects of their training.

While not listening thoroughly to her aunt instructions, she caught some glimpse of her words and figured what she's trying to say.

 _Her Quirk._ It seems like she will train her Quirk and improve the use of it. Since it's quite a _flawed_ Quirk, an imperfect power but if used right with enough balance and versatility, it's a possibility that it can be _perfected_. Depends on the person using it.

Of course, she would improve the body of her niece since it's tied to her body—her _physical abilities._

 _At least, that's what she heard and thought about it._

As Hayami listened to her aunt, she can only nod to her words. Even though she's still undecided about the whole 'wanted to become a hero', she can't really refuse her aunt's support and go through all her way to help her _miserable_ niece.

She shrugged. _I guess, it is worth a shot._

When they finally arrived at the beach, the rays of sunshine snapped the girl awake as she covered her eyes from the sun. As she looked down at the _garbage-filled beach,_ she can see two people moving around. One figure overshadowing the figure of the small one.

The pink-haired girl squinted her eyes to them to discern their identity. Her _ears_ dropped when she saw who they were.

 _So it's him, after all._

Since she already speculated that it was him, it shouldn't have surprised her. But since it was already confirmed right in front of her but there are mixed feelings about this revelation. _Fear? Anxious?_ She doesn't know what feeling right now, but it seems to be close to nervousness. Or—

 _Troubled._

In the corner of her eyes, she saw her aunt descending to the beach as she immediately followed after her. Her aunt greeted All Might with a wave as the blonde-haired man responded her with a salute.

The hero _smiled_ at the pink-haired girl. "So we meet again, young Hayami."

Hayami can't help but shudder at the smile he gave to her, especially when it was directed to her. There was no malicious intent in his smile—just a _genuine_ one. But when _the strongest hero_ smiled at you, it's kind of surreal that the symbol of peace _beams_ at you.

The girl gave him a hesitant smile with a wave. "It's nice to meet you again, All Might-san."

 _"Shiichan!"_

She turned her head to the voice calling to her as she saw the beaming face of a worn-out face of her _friend,_ Midoriya Izuku.

"Hello, Midoriya-kun." She smiled at the familiar face.

"It was you, after all!"

Hayami tilted her head. "What?"

"When All Might told me that I will have a training mate, I have no idea who will be my companion. But when I heard Mai-san name, I thought it would be you!"

Hayami nodded in understanding. She noted that Midoriya seem to know her aunt and guess that he probably met her during their childhood, which she had no memories about. She also noted that he seemed to speculate who will be his companion to this ( _soon to be hell)_ training.

 _I guess, we're in the same boat before we met, huh?_

"By the way, you two seem to be way earlier than us, what time did you arrive here?" The girl pondered with raised eyebrow.

"Um, around five in the morning..."

Her eyes widened. "Five?!" She looked at her wristwatch, showing that it's nearly 6:30.

"Yeah, all we've been doing is salvaging the garbage."

Hayami looked around her surroundings. She noticed that there are some spot already cleaned while some area already had less garbage than what she saw from few days ago when she visited the beach.

"What... kind of training does All Might had in mind for you?" She asked while still looking around.

"Muscle training, I think... and also probably stamina training. All Might will train my body since he said that if I receive his power prematurely, my body will explode." Midoriya let out a gasp when he realized what he said.

"Your body will _what?!_ " She exclaimed but then frowned as she processed what he just said. "Wait, what do you mean 'receive his power'?"

Midoriya started to sweat profusely, avoiding her gaze while stammering, trying to find an excuse to his slip up.

The girl walked towards him. "This had been in my mind, _ever since I assumed that you will be All Might's disciple,"_ she whispered the last part. "I thought you don't have a Quirk, why is All Might teaching you?"

 _I'm Quirkless. I have no Quirk._

She remembered those words perfectly in her _memory_ when she asked about his Quirk, which was something she regretted. She did wonder _why_ All Might chose him—a Quirkless boy to be his disciple and decided to train him. I mean, there are lots of people he can choose, right?

 _Like her, for example._

It's not like she had qualms in Midoriya who were chosen by All Might as his disciple. It's her _curiosity_ that gets in the way for wanting to find out the reason _why_ he chose Midoriya to be trained under his wing.

 _Not to mention, 'receive his power'._

She sighed. _On the second thought, I shouldn't probe in their business._ She immediately changed her mind since it started to give her headache from all the thinking she did for these two. Midoriya Izuku and All Might about their relationship. And also to return the favor for saving _both Midoriya and Bakugo_ that day. She decided to not poke her nose into their circumstances as a gratitude for saving them.

 _"Eshima-kun!"_

"What?" Hayami yelled back to her aunt.

" _Can you come here for a bit?"_

Hayami immediately responded to her aunt's call that she will go there for a minute. She turned her attention back to Midoriya, staring at him while noting his uncomfortable expression. She put her hand to his shoulder as he stiffened under her touch.

"I'm sorry, Midoriya-kun, asking such an _unnecessary_ question," She said, her words calming him down. "After all, _it's not my business, right?"_

The boy looked at her in surprise but she already walked away from him to her aunt.

* * *

 _He wasn't able himself to answer._

I mean, it's natural. The question she asked was a breach of secrecy he had with All Might. All he can do is to shut his mouth to avoid answering her question. And also, she already saw All Might's other form—it is no wonder why she wanted answers to her _curiosity._

 _But that wasn't all._

There's an unknown unease in the pit of his gut that he _shouldn't_ told her the truth. Because she's not the Hayami Eshima he knows from the past...

He gasped, surprised at his own thoughts. He shook his head to clear the _malicious_ image he had with her _._

 _What are thinking, Izuku?! Of course, Shiichan changed because she had an amnesia and it's inevitable that it would happen!_

 _Remember—_

 _ **Shiichan just changed**_ **not replaced.**

He inwardly apologized to his friend for not telling her as he glanced in her way. He also apologized for having his nostalgia caught up to him for judging her _._

 _I'm sorry, Shiichan._

* * *

 **TIME PROGRESS (TEN MONTHS):**

 _Ten months._

Ten months of torture and she experienced hell along with the shadow's devil of her aunt.

It was the hard times of _training_ where she was tested of her speed and reaction time.

First, it was dodging and catching the ball until it evolved into sharp objects, much to Hayami's dismay. _It was for her to be aware to danger,_ according to her aunt when she transitioned to sharp objects to train her.

It was the first _lesson_ until she asked her niece to spar with her—again, to niece's dismay. Well, the sparring was about Hayami teaching how to be a defensive fighter—plus, teaching her a bit techniques to add her experience.

That _lesson_ of speed and reaction lasted for a month. The next month was about offensive.

Susume taught her basics (the ones she still doesn't know). And asked her niece to spar again but this time, Hayami will be offense and her aunt on defense. It's supposed to measure how to train her niece and what kind of lesson she will taught to her.

Many spars between them and her aunt won against her—naturally, being the experienced one.

After that, her aunt decided to teach her niece how to overwhelm her niece by technique rather than raw strength. Her Quirk doesn't give the user to grant pure power—it relies on reflexes and agility. In other words, evasion and defense. In summary of the training, Susume taught her niece some... _weird_ techniques (in Hayami's words) where to hit the _weak_ spots of the body.

In the following next month is about the comprehension of her quirk, in other words, the real nature of her quirk.

 _Which gave her quite a big shock._

"You're aware that your Quirk gives you agility and reflexes, right?" _Susume Mai_ started her lecture in front of her niece with a baton on her hand and a makeshift chalkboard behind her while Hayami sitting front of her, Indian-style.

Hayami nodded, her ears twitching at the mention of it. "Yes. _Bestial Switch_. It's what I named for my Quirk."

"And why did you named it like that?"

"Because you said that my Quirk is related to the beasts—or more accurately, their instincts."

Her aunt looked at her strangely before she nodded. "That's right. That's how _one_ of your Quirks works."

Hayami took a full minute to process her words. "One of my _what?"_

The older woman stayed silent for a while before she scowled and started grumbling under her breath that suspiciously sounded like—

 _Goddammit, why do you have to erase her memories for this?_

The girl wasn't able to question what it meant when her aunt had already started walking towards her.

"Stand up, Eshima-kun. I'll explain it to you." She motioned the pinkette to stand up and tilted her head to follow her.

Hayami wasn't able to form any words to say, still shock at the revelation—especially with the comment of her aunt about her memories. Without complaint, she followed her aunt in the clearing.

"…Eshima-kun, are you okay?"

She snapped out of her trance. "I have _Quirks?_ Like… _multiple_ Quirks…?" She said the words that first came to her mind, breathless.

The woman sighed, raising her hands. "It's complicated. To answer your question—yes, you have multiple Quirks and," she searched for better words. "…I don't know the reason behind it."

The girl stayed silent. _Doesn't know the reason behind it?_

"Bestial Switch is indeed _your_ Quirk, there's no doubt about that." Her aunt began, changing the topic. "But your _Quirks_ … I don't know how to explain this properly but… it manifest in certain parts of your body."

She frowned before the woman continued.

"For example, Bestial Switch. It gives you reflexes, right? It means it can be used for your body— _your body._ I mean, this one is a special case actually since you used this a lot and somehow it didn't just appear at the single part of your body, like your hand or something."

"You mean, like, it only appears at one part of my body…?" She tried to process everything she just said, including the revelation earlier.

"That's right. While I don't know most of your Quirks and as far as I can remember, you have two more under your arsenal." She pointed at her hands. "For example, your hands. I know you already forgot about them but you can gather winds in your hands. _Only gathering winds._ You actually don't use them that much since they're pretty useless anyway."

Hayami looked at her hands in fascination. _Why did she forgot all of this? It should have been useful during the sludge incident..._

"And your legs… you actually have a pretty strong legs." Her aunt continued, crouching down to poke her thighs. "It may look like you have scrawny legs but the power behind it if you used it for kicks," she winced as if she remembered something unpleasant. "Is quite painful when I received it."

 _Huh?_ "Since when?"

"Since—"she stopped before she sighed. "Even that part was erased?"

She's getting confused. "Susume-san, what are you talking about? Earlier, you said something erasing memories…"

She gasped. "No way, did I say that out loud?"

"…yes."

She facepalmed. "Goddammit. I can't believe I made a mistake in a time like this…"

"Susume-san?"

She hanged her head. "Fine, fine, I'll tell you about it. But…!" She put up a finger. "After the training of ours is done. We can't let the unnecessary drama get in our way. Let's focus in our training first, okay?"

"Ah." Hayami hesitantly agreed. While she's happy that the topic was dropped for the sake of her _raging_ curiosity (since she doesn't want it to get in her way too and postpone the training), it's bothering her that her former memories and her forgotten Quirks seems to be related to each other.

She inwardly shook it away. _No, let's forget that for now._ Like her aunt said, she should let the current problem handle the current her—which is the training they're doing right now.

"Let's continue our training, I guess?" She broke the silence between them.

For some reason, her aunt beamed at her. "So you finally accept that you wanted to become a hero?"

"Wha—!? I didn't said that! I said, let's continue our training…!"

" _The training for you to become a hero."_

The pinkette fumed but didn't say a word. Well, she can't exactly deny that.

* * *

After that revelation, the _training_ of Susume Mai has finally revealed its true nature.

In the fourth month, her _hell_ training officially has begun.

In the sparring matches, she wore weights to improve her speed. Her aunt using her Quirk, _Burst Speed,_ against her to improve her reaction time. And the worst of all, All Might joining them in his muscled form to fight against her to improve her defense.

In the dodging segment, it has the same procedure along with her aunt and All Might throwing anything at her, much to her dismay.

In the test of speed, they played various sports. Seriously, when her aunt mentioned this, she thought her aunt was on to _something_ , bringing sports play in training. She can't complain about this since that was the most fun part of the training since she was able to play with Midoriya.

As for her… newly informed Quirk(s), she asked her aunt to improve it too, not just her _Bestial Switch_ Quirk and she agreed.

But for some reason, it didn't appeared despite her efforts. She can't gather winds in her hands and there was no power evident in her legs, just her lean short legs. When she asked her aunt about this, she just shrugged saying that she doesn't know. And then, a thought came to her.

 _Maybe because her memories hasn't recovered yet that she can't use them for now?_

She pondered silently as they continued their training.

Throughout the duration of her training, she got increasingly annoyed because she wasn't able to spend _enough_ time with Midoriya—even just a minute. Ever since she realized that _he_ was situated at the other side of the beach, she silently accused both mentors that they probably doing this on purpose.

As months passed by on their training, Hayami can't help but noticed that her aunt seem to focus more by making her toughed up as a defensive fighter. She had no complains about it, rather liking the idea of being the defensive fighter.

But then again, according to her aunt during the training...

" _Running away is one of the best self-defense. Don't forget."_

* * *

The birds are chirping outside. The sun are shining outside of her window, smiling for a brand new day as if mocking the poor girl still lying to her bed from the lingering fatigue. She can faintly hear her aunt calling her for breakfast downstairs but her body refused to get up despite her attempts.

 _It was finally the day._ Hayami thought as the rays of sunshine hit her face. The soft comforts of her bed refusing the girl from getting up. _I should get up,_ she told herself. Instead of getting up, she hugged her blankets draped on her, relishing the fluffiness by rubbing her face in it.

"Eshima-kun, get up! It's the day of the exam!"

She groaned at what her aunt said. She _really_ don't want to get reminded of the _fated_ day, also known as the examination day in U.A. That's right, _U.A_., of all places.

During the _hell_ training, she was able to _sneak_ some time with Midoriya and had some small talk between them. During the talk, she found out that her _dear friend_ is planning to spend his high school in one of the most prominent high school in Japan – U.A. Since she's planning to tag along with him for his hero training (and her hero not-so-endeavors), she nearly fainted at the revelation.

But when she backtracks and gave it a thought, it make sense why he wanted to go to U.A. That particular school _is_ All Might's well-known alumni; and Midoriya, being a huge fan boy he is, plans to go there to grant his dream to become a hero. Like she said, she plans to go with him but when she found out about it, she hesitates. Being one of most competitive school, U.A's acceptance is very low. As she remembered, it was about below five percent and they're quite picky when selecting the students.

She's not even sure if she's going to be accepted by U.A., judging from her personality _and_ her Quirk. Heck, she's not even sure if _they (Her and Midoriya)_ is going to be accepted by U.A. She doesn't even know if her friend was truly Quirkless ever since she found out that _he_ became All Might's disciple.

 _"All Might will train my body since he said that if I receive his power prematurely, my body will explode."_

 _There; a hint._ Her curiosity is tingling intensely about nature of Midoriya and All Might's relationship. But, she promised herself that she shouldn't dig her nose to their business, as a reminder from All Might for saving her _friends_ during that day.

Well, even if she can't unravel their secret by herself but sooner or later, she's sure that _time_ will reveal it.

 _And also, if she fails in the exam, she would quit her attempts to become a hero._

 _ **"Hayami Eshima! Get up from your bed this instant!"**_

The girl flinched at the shrill voice outside her bedroom. She immediately sat up from her bed in response before the door was forcibly opened by her aunt.

" _ **HAYAMI ESHIMA, GET UP**_ _—_ oh, you're already awake. Oh well, I have already prepared the breakfast. Make sure to clean your bed before you go out, okay?"

The girl nodded at her aunt in response who closed the door behind her. She sighed in relief the moment it was closed. She silently reminded herself to wake up early to not anger her aunt anymore.

* * *

Hayami took a shower after she was done folding her bed. After her shower, she replaced the bandage to her arms for the injuries that still wasn't healed during that _hell_ training implemented by her aunt. Seriously, her aunt has gone overboard with her training for her. She even added some things that wasn't even necessary for hero- _ing_ or for the benefits of her Quirk.

Well, as long as her aunt was having _fun_ for at least once in a while, she'll let it slide for her aunt's sake.

After she went to her bedroom and changed to her school uniform, she went downstairs for breakfast.

"Good morning." She greeted her aunt.

"Good morning." Her aunt smiled at her. The girl dragged the chair from the table and sat to eat her already prepared breakfast at the table. "Are you going to wait for Izuku-kun?"

"No, I'll wait for him at school gates. I think All Might will bring Midoriya-kun to the school."

"I see..."

The pink-haired girl briefly glanced at her dark-haired aunt across her as she chew her breakfast. Her aunt seemed to be a bit out of character this morning. She didn't bombard her with the usual question like 'how do you feel today?' or something training related. Susume just sat across her with the creepy silent stare pinned to her face.

"...are you okay?"

"Huh?" Her aunt to snap out of her daze.

"Are you okay?" Hayami repeated.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm okay. I just had a lot of things in my mind right now." Susume waved it off with a forced smile.

The girl raised her eyebrows in suspicious but continued to eat her food. _Apparently_ , she realized, her aunt's silence was a sign of contemplation. She's not used seeing her aunt being in a passive behavior since she always perceived her as a very active person. _A lot of things of her mind_ , she echoed her aunt in her thoughts. Her curiosity deprived mind seem slowly overtaking her sanity to seek for answers but decided to do against it. It's still early in the morning to make some ruckus _and_ it wasn't her business to probe into her aunt's mind anyway.

Chewing the last piece of her breakfast, she gathered her plate and put it in the sink as she immediately grabbed her bag and walked towards the door to put on her shoes.

"Eshima-kun?"

Hayami looked up from her sitting position before she stood up. "Yeah?"

Susume fiddled with her fingers with nervousness, which is, once again, _seem to out of character for her aunt,_ with a strained smile on her face. "There's something I want to talk about you..." She trailed off. "Of course, this will be quick. I promise." She quickly added when she saw her niece frowning at her.

"Well... what is it?"

"You... still remember Kotone, right?"

She froze, stunned at her words.

 _Hayami Kotone_ , the woman who gave her a second chance of a _real_ family, an experience that she never thought would _genuinely_ came to herself. A person who accepted a _lost_ child like her to her _so-called_ family.

 _Of course, she remembers._ She _is_ someone significant who changed her life for good, _of course_ she would remember. But somehow, why did it slip to her mind? If she's someone important for her, why is she not constantly on her mind? Shouldn't she feel indebted to her?

 _If you wanted to become a hero, that would make me happy._

 _Ah,_ a certain reminiscence came to her mind. _Hero._ It was a priceless promise. A promise that she thought she doesn't deserve. A promise that seems like a curse. A promise that felt like more of a punishment rather than a blessing.

But, despite that, she doesn't hate the person called _Hayami Kotone_ , who is now called her _mother._

 _Adoptive mother._

After all, she saved her.

But she can't entirely remember her. Her memories about her seems to be all jumbled and unclear. All she can remember is that she was the person who saved her from her despair.

 _Oh._ Now that she thought about it, where is she anyway?

"Yes, I still remember... kind of." Hayami hesitantly answers.

Her aunt sighed. "So, you _did_ forget about her."

The pink-haired girl lowered her head in silent apology. Her memories is too vague for her to affirm her aunt that she can _still_ remember her adoptive mother.

"Do you remember when we talk about your memories few months ago? As promised, we will talk about it… with her."

"I see." She indifferently responded than she intended. She actually forgot about it (the irony) because she was training so hard that it felt like it happened a long time ago. It must have slipped in her mind eventually.

Well, talking about her memories is one thing but she's more curious of the appearance of her _so-called_ adoptive mother and where she is currently so she agreed.

Well, there wasn't any reason to refuse anyway.

The older woman beamed as she clasp her hands gratefully. "That's great."

She nodded at her aunt with a small laugh escaping from her, seeing the happiness painted to her aunt's face. "Well, I guess, I'll be going—"

"Wait, wait, wait! There's still something I want to talk to you about!"

The girl looked back to her aunt when she was about to open the door with a frown to her face. "Huh? What?" _I thought, she said, it was going to be quick._ She thought in annoyance.

"A word of advice before you go."

Hayami let go of the door handle, now listening attentively to her aunt who became her trainer for the last ten months in order for her to _become a hero._ _I guess this one will be quick too._ She thought.

"Did you know that you're acting like a hypocrite?"

She blanched. _Wha—?!_

"In these past few months, I noticed that you seemed to be working harder than before." Her aunt smiled mischievously. "As I remember, you said that heroes are just a 'glorified version of community service'."

She stood in front of her aunt, silently fuming, trying to calm her temper at her aunt's words. _It's true that I said that before. But what is the point of this…—!_

"But, I don't hate it." Her aunt continued, giving her niece a thumbs up. "After all, you're _finally_ acting like a hero."

"Huh?"

"Few months ago, you were in denial that you don't want to become a hero but," She wiggled her eyebrows. "Even since we started the training, you seemed to be pumped up whenever there's Midoriya within your eyesight." She dramatically gasped, covering her mouth both hands. "Don't tell me… the ' _him_ ' person you were talking before was… _him?"_

Hayami felt her ears warming. "Susume-san, stop joking around! Please tell me your 'word of advice' already so that I won't be late in the exam!"

"Eh? But that's still two hours away?"

She gaped at her. _Then why the hell you wake me up so early when I should have been sleeping right now?!_

"I'm kidding, just kidding!" The woman laughed. "Just wanted to light some things up before I say this to you."

She dropped her scowl.

Susume cleared her throat. "Eshima-kun, these few months I have trained you, you have drastically improved. Compared to what you are right now before, you have gotten stronger. Additionally, I have apologize at the wounds I inflicted to you during the training."

The pinkette shook her hands. "Ah, you don't have to—"

"And I admit that I had lots of fun ever since I quit my job as a hero. I really had the time of my life. And I also admit that I've gone bit overboard. And," she gently laughed. "Because I was focused so much at you that I forgot my job and got fired."

She widened her eyes at that before she looked down in guilt. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it! I'm currently searching for a job right now." Her aunt explained. "Seriously, I actually don't regret it. I was able to spend my time being with you so I guess I should be, _at least,_ grateful that I was fired."

Hayami felt bad about it so she stayed silent.

"But that's not what I wanted to say," The woman lifted her chin. "I am asking whether you, Hayami Eshima, are prepared to take on the challenges, the hardships, and the obstacles that will come to you. Becoming a hero is not an easy task. You will get injured, feel pain and constantly pressured of the expectation resting upon you by the masses." She inhaled. "My dear niece, are you sure you wanted this whole-heartedly?"

 _No._ Was her automatic answer. She doesn't want this _whole-heartedly._ But still, she wanted this. Hayami Eshima, the weak-hearted person, wanted this. If she stayed _weak_ , she would never move forward, always in a stagnant, hollow life. If she gets out in her comfort zone, perhaps there would be an improvement.

"Yes." She responded confidently. "It may be the one that I don't want but still I have to do it."

 _No, she's not trying to become a hero just because she wanted fame._ She eventually realized. _It's also not because of regret that spurned her to become one._

 _She wanted it to challenge herself._

"I see." Susume gave her a closed-eyed smile. "You have truly changed, Eshima-kun."

Hayami returned her smile, strangely feeling flattered. "Thanks."

"Now, go out there and beat the other examinees, Eshima-kun!" The woman pumped her fist to her.

The girl sweatdropped. "No, I don't want to do that but thanks for the support."

She grinned widely. "Go get 'em, tiger!"

Laughing at her aunt's tendencies, she opened the door and started to walk away from the house. It took her ten feet of walk before she heard hurried steps coming after her.

"Wait, Eshima-kun!"

She turned around behind her when she heard her aunt's voice. She stiffened when she felt something warm touching her forehead.

"I'm proud of you." Susume said, separating her lips from her niece's temple. Without waiting, she immediately ran back to the house while yelling 'good luck with exams!' before she disappeared from her view.

Hayami touched her forehead with a dazed expression.

 _I'm proud of you._

For some reason, her heart swelled with emotions. But the other part of her started panicking.

 _Great, now she can't disappointed her aunt if she can't pass the exam._

* * *

Exactly at 8 in the morning, she arrived at U.A. examination site. As soon as she arrives, she sent a quick text to Midoriya asking if he already arrived which he quickly replied that he's still with All Might. She texted him again that she'll wait for him as he replied with a simple 'ok' back at her.

She sat at the side of the stairs, waiting for her companion to arrive while ignoring the stares from other examinees. In their defense, she really can't blame them for attracting their gazes towards her. With her noticeable school uniform which consist of red color scheme compared to the other schools who uses darker colors, it is no wonder why she was getting stares from other students.

With the occasional glances at the school gates and looking around in wonder at the U.A school, her companion finally arrived at the gates, seeing the familiar green hair in the distance and stood up from her sitting position.

As she waited for him at the stairs (since she doesn't want to run to him), she noticed a familiar blonde hair bumping to Midoriya who instantly freaked out at him. Bakugo ignored him and continued to walk ahead. As he reached the stairs, he only gave her a single glance without breaking his walk as he continued ahead inside the school.

While she was focused on Bakugo who passed to her, she didn't notice a certain brunette saving Midoriya from falling to the ground. But when she turn her attention back to Midoriya, the brown-haired girl was already nowhere in sight, seeing him already walking towards her.

When Hayami was about to greet him, Midoriya suddenly muttered something out-of-place.

 _"That's right. Shiichan is a girl, too."_

The girl was taken back of what he just said, but she ignored it and greeted him. "Morning, Izuku-kun."

"Ah! Good morning, Shiichan!" He greeted back at her, as if he was startled at her presence. After that, they walked together inside the school side by side before a thought came to her at whatever he just muttered under his breath.

 _Wait, am I_ not _a girl?_

That thought lingered to her mind as they walked in silence until it was eventually forgotten as they arrived at the room and search for a vacant seat as they waited for the orientation to start.

After the quick orientation presented by Present Mic, they were sent to the locker room to change to the comfortable clothes for the practical exam. As Hayami changed her clothes, she realized how underprepared she was. The written exam was passable but practical exam was the one she was having in trouble. According to Present Mic, they were fighting robots.

 _Robots,_ of all the things she expected. Since her Quirk was only for stealth use and agility, she doesn't know to defeat the robots if the practical exam was biased to reinforcement or power-type Quirk which her Quirk lacks. But then, she remembered her aunt's words.

 _If you fight someone who is stronger than you, be tricky. Your Quirk may be not a strength-based type but you have speed and agility._

 _Yes but outsmarting a robot? Is that even possible?_

Well, Present Mic didn't specifically said that robots are mindless beings. Maybe they are AI controlled robots to act independently to _defeat_ the examinees for the sake of the exam and gouged out their combat ability.

 _Ah, I see._ Hayami realized. This exam is meant to examine every examinee's battle plan and how they applied it into their circumstances. Since they are four types of robots in this exam – one point, two point, three point and zero point – she guessed that this is a battle of fortitude, depending on the enemies they encounter and how they faced it.

Since the examinees are split into multiple battle centers, she also guessed that this is a race who get the most points in this exam and also the race against _time_ since it is also time-limited.

 _U.A really likes pitting each other's student, isn't it?_ She thought while she can't blame them. Like her aunt said, being a hero is not an easy job. It is expected they will face many complicated obstacles if they are motivated to become one.

When she was done changing her clothes, she got out from the locker room and they were taken to a bus by the courtesy of the school and arrived at their respective battle center which to her case–Battle Center A.

Everyone looked at the battle center in awe, which is estimated to be the size of the city. Hayami looked at the gate of the battle center, feeling intimidated at the sight of it because in the other side, it is the side they are evaluated whether they are qualified as a U.A student or not.

 _I'm proud of you._

And she can't disappoint her aunt in this.

To ease her worries, she tried to distract herself by looking around for any familiar faces. Unfortunately _,_ her eyes caught a certain stormy red eyes glaring towards her direction. Seeing his stare towards her, she returned his glare with her own, having an intense stare-down to each other.

She's really unlucky that she was put in the same Battle Center as him, instead of the Battle Center B where her friend is currently assigned. Even though he's the one who made Midoriya suffer (since he made Midoriya cry and assumed that he bullied him), she can't completely hate him. For some reason, she can't bring herself to dislike him, probably due to the _nostalgia_ she had with him.

 _"Start!"_

Hayami looked up in surprise, breaking her gaze from Bakugo, seeing Present Mic at the top of the already opened gates.

"What are you doing? Hero- _ing_ doesn't rely on countdowns—"

She didn't listen to his words no longer after that, already running ahead from the other examinees to the already open gates, sprinting inside searching for any robots. She made a sharp turn in the corner as she disappeared from the eyes of the other examinees.

As soon as she turned, she immediately encountered a pack of one-point robots huddled together as if they still not awakened. She forcibly stop her sprint, her feet sliding forward from the sudden change of momentum as she tried to run back to a corner clumsily, hiding from their sight.

Taking her cover from the corner, she took a peek of the huddled robots. She took this opportunity to analyze the one-point robot, while at the same time, racking her brain how defeat the huddled robots on her own.

 _Should she bait one of them and defeat them one by one?_ Possible, but—

Her train of thought was halted to stop when her huddled robots moved, raising their mechanical heads with a single orb embedded acting as its own eye. She stopped peeking at them as she backed away, hoping that they won't notice her presence.

No longer seeing them, she relied on her ears, listening to their mechanical movements as she heard tires (which is their acting feet) faltering at the distance before she sighed in relief. She really did come unprepared for this type of exam.

She took a peek for the second time, just to be sure if they are truly gone—

 _ **Jump.**_

A familiar feeling of _instinct_ overtook her body as she jump away from the incoming attack. She blinked her eyes in confusion what just happened before she looked up, seeing the one-point robot readying itself to attack.

 _ **Run.**_

She felt it _again_ , trying to overtake her mind but she shook her head in denial as she dodge the attack of the robot.

 _No, instinct. Don't make me run away. Fight with me._

 _ **...**_

She clicked her tongue when she was met with silence. She was already warned by her aunt that there's a possibility that her 'instinct' may have developed its own personality when she told her about the 'voice' speaking to her during the sludge incident.

Snapping out from her daze, she dodge the incoming attack. Noticing that she was alone in this predicament, she racked her brains for impromptu plan to defeat this robot in front of her.

Steeled structured body. Tentacle-like robotic limb. Squared-shaped head. Red orb-like eyes. With quick assessment, she tried to search a weakness.

 _Their legs seemed to be the defenseless one._ She noted the lack of steel armor it and she ran without thinking further. She ran towards it along with a plan in her head, recklessly moving forward to face it. The robot, seeing her running, readies itself to attack again.

To Hayami, she doesn't know if this plan of hers work or not. If it does, it's a great achievement for a bullshit plan. But if not, she wouldn't be surprise if she end up unconscious after this.

 _Her plan?_ It's simple. Tackle its legs then roughly pull it back until it lost its balance.

 _It's just that simple her plan is._

She silently laments how underprepared she was since fully expecting that she will be fighting a person in this exam.

As if everything was in slow motion, she silently prayed that her plan would work against the robot. She assumed a tackling stance as she ran towards it.

Just as she was about to reach it—

 _ **Boom!**_

She was blown back at the force of the explosion, nearly losing her balance as she felt her ears ringing at the loud sound created from the explosion. When the smoke cleared away, she stared dumbfounded at the person who defeated her ( _supposed to be)_ target.

 _Bakugo Katsuki_ dropped his grin when he noticed _Hayami Eshima_ staring at him in disbelief. Glancing at the robot he just defeated and then to her, he grin in realization as he laughed at her.

"I guess you were never _fast_ enough, _nekomimi (cat-ears)!"_

Hayami continued to gape as Bakugo ran ahead for his next target in the next area. She wasn't able to hear his nickname for her because she was focused on the defeated robot and the trail where Bakugo came from, seeing the same robots lying defeated at the ground.

It was the same one-point robot huddled pack that she discovered earlier, seeing the familiar robots that Bakugo he _destroyed_ easily. While her, can only hide in the corner when she saw them and can only barely held her feet for a single one-point robot.

But, there's one thing she realized...

 _Curiosity killed the cat... but satisfaction gave it back._

 _Well, it wasn't satisfaction that saved me!_ She thought. _It was Bakugo Katsuki of all people who saved my life!_ She clenched her fist in annoyance, remembering the earlier incident how he stole her target.

 _If it wasn't for him, that would have been my big damn moment!_

* * *

A few minutes in of the exam, she was able to take down multiple one-point robots and occasionally some two-point robots which she had a bit trouble of defeating. When she realized that how easy it was to defeat a one-point robot, she started to defeat the same robots left and right.

She jogged around the battle center, searching for a robot for her to defeat, preferably one-point or two-point to increase her current points, which she already lost count but she was sure that it was at least thirty-plus points.

When she turn to a corner, she saw a lone faux villain who seem to be attacking a helpless examinee. Seeing this, she ran towards it, gradually increasing her speed before she gave it a flying kick, crashing it to a nearby wall. She silently cheered to herself for the points she defeated before she turn her attention to the fellow examinee.

"Are you okay?"

"Not really." He replied, pointing at his trapped leg by one of the parts of the faux villain.

She let out a small 'oh' as she helped him get out from the rubble, lifting the mechanical parts of the robot from his leg which she had a great struggle to do so but was able to lift away from him. When his leg was finally free, he attempted to stand up but stumbled to balance himself. She caught him before he touched the ground and helped him to regain his balance.

"I'm okay." He said to her as he pushed her away from him. "If you stay here, you won't get any points."

Hayami looked at him in confusion. "But if one of the faux villains catches a sight of you—"

"I'm fine. I was just caught off guard."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am. So go, you won't become a hero if don't get enough points."

She stared at him, frowning of his weird tenacity of pushing her away from him before she sighed. "Fine, just be careful, okay?"

He nodded at her. "I will. _I won't get accepted anyway."_

She nearly wasn't able to hear the last part he muttered as she tilted her head. She decided to ignore it as she walked away from him with a lingering glance of his figure before she turned to a corner.

 **"Only five minutes left until the end of the exam! Go get crazy, future heroes!"**

She heard Present Mic's voice echoed in the sky (or rather, his voice is just loud), warning them of the time limit which she is grateful for. She continue to run ahead searching for another faux villain.

She jogged around the battle center, searching for a robot for her to defeat, preferably one-point or two-point to increase her current points. And in the distance, she saw a faux villain beating up a fellow examinee which gave her a certain _Deja vu,_ thinking that this seems to have already happened before.

Just like she did earlier, she ran to increase her speed and gave the robot a flying kick as it exploded in the nearby wall, which also gave her another case of _Deja vu_ because of the similarity how she defeated it like the faux villain earlier.

"Thank you..."

She turned around when she heard someone thanking her. "You're welcome—"

She widened her eyes at the sight in front of her as she looked down at the familiar person, trapped under the rubble of the same mechanical part of the faux villain of the same predicament that person she saved earlier.

"You again..." Both of them muttered at the same, unamused that they met again.

"Looks like _fate_ like to meet us to each other..." She commented as she remove the rubble he was trapped.

"Seems like it." He replied with an unimpressed face as he stumbled to balance to his feet.

She sighed before she let out an unamused laugh as she held out her hand to him. "Hayami Eshima."

"...what?" He looked at her hand in confusion.

She shrugged. "We already met twice, why not introduce ourselves."

When he heard the reasoning from her, he sighed how ridiculous it sounded but he accepted her hand and shook it. " _Shinso Hitoshi."_

She smiled at him. "Nice to meet you, Shinso-kun."

"Yeah—"

Both of them lost their balance when the ground shook violently as they fell on their feet. When it died down, they stood up to their feet and looked around in confusion, wondering what happened.

"What was that?" She asked in no one in particular.

"I don't kn—"

She turned her attention to him when he suddenly stopped his sentence, seeing his horrified look behind her as she looked back behind her. Her jaw dropped at the ground as she saw a towering robot going crazy in the far distance where they are currently standing.

"Don't tell me that's the zero-point obstacle that Present Mic was talking about...!"

"...it seems so."

Zero-point obstacle. Just like its name says it doesn't give any points even if you defeat it. When Present Mic introduced this faux villain earlier in the orientation, he advised that they should avoid it since they have no reason to defeat it and contributes nothing to their scores.

 _ **Boom!**_

"...shouldn't we go there...?"

"Why?" Shinso frowned at her.

"Well... there might be some people who needs help..."

"You mean defeating that zero-point FV (faux villain)? Don't do it. From what I hear, defeating the robots _with points_ is the important part in this exam."

Shinso crossed his arms as he walked to a nearby rubble and sat on it. The girl shrugged at his words. He's right about the robots but her _becoming_ a hero and seeing a threat in the distance is really making her incline to help someone who caught in the middle of the trouble caused by that zero-point FV rampaging. Sighing, Hayami soon followed after him and she sat beside him with a distance between them.

Both of them sat in silence.

"By the way, Shinso-kun, how many points have you accumulated?" She tried to break the silence between them except with occasional rumbling at the distance.

"..."

She scratched her head. "Um, what Quirk do you have?"

He turned his head to her. "Talk to me."

"Huh?" She frowned before her mind goes blank.

"Slap your cheek."

She robotically lifted her hand before she slapped it across her face. She blinked her eyes in confusion after she received the pain from the slap.

"Wha...?" She drowsily tried to ask as if she just awaken from sleep.

"What you experience just now—that was my Quirk."

"Oh."

Silence settled both of them. Both occupied on their own thoughts, contemplating what just happened along with the occasional trembling on the ground from the nearby ruckus.

 _A Quirk that can brainwash people, huh..._ Hayami pondered to herself as she put her hand to her chin in thought. It's an amazing Quirk, she thought, having a great potential to be a great due to its sneaky nature as she realized her action earlier when she answered him and her mind immediately goes blank.

 _It is a good Quirk but..._ she trailed, as she remembered her question earlier to him.

 _"Um, what Quirk do you have?"_

She touched her face in realization when she became aware how her question to him sounded a _bit_ insensitive.

 _And this is the second case; the first one being with Midoriya._

She also realized that his Quirk is _practically_ useless in this type of exam, due to some circumstances. Their enemies are _robots_ , of course it's inevitable that he will _fail_ this exam.

She cringed. Somehow, thinking about the obvious result was painful than she realized.

"Um, Shinso-kun?" Hayami started hesitantly.

"Yeah?"

"Were you somehow aware the contents of, um, this exam...?"

He sighed under his breath. "Sort of."

She was taken back by his answer. "What, when?" She asked curiously.

 _Sort of?_ She thought. _What does he mean by that?_

He joined his hands together to his lap. "It's not about 'when', it's just how it is. Everyone expects that a _hero_ must be strong and gallant, someone they can rely on along with their Quirks. But what happens if a hero has a Quirk that seems villainous and was always associated with evil acts? Wouldn't that make them uncomfortable?"

 _I see,_ she nodded at his words. It is true that his Quirk seem to be in a _bad_ spectrum in a certain perspective but that's just how his Quirk works. No one should have blame him for having a... _well..._ a _villain-like_ Quirk because he never asked for it. He only got it not because he wanted it.

But...

"But you wanted to become a hero, right?" She affirmed with a raised eyebrow. "Isn't _action_ that matters not by words?"

She gasped after she said those words, covering her mouth in horror when she realized that it's _literally_ how his Quirk works.

 _But still..._

'Never give up!' seems to be the motto of every people who wanted to become hero. At least, how she perceives it. But, this person beside her seem to be not motivated enough to become one because his dream seem too far away to reach it with his own hands. A thing he will never reach despite his efforts.

"You're... right." He trailed off as he stood up. "Thank you... for the advice. But it will never change that I will _not_ pass the exam."

She stood up after him. "You are... right." She gave him a pained smile.

 _Having enough points is the only way to have one step to become a hero._

 _At least, in this exam._

 **"TIME UP!"**

Present Mic's booming voice echoed around them, signaling the end of the exam. She briefly glanced at the distance where the zero-point FV was rampaging earlier, seeing that it was no longer there. She turned her head beside her as she saw her companion who already left his spot, walking away from her. Leaving her to her own.

Staring at his back, she realized how pitiful his circumstances and his struggles as she gazed at him sympathetically.

 _I never realized that this type of thing happens in a hero world too..._ She thought to herself, realizing how close-minded she was about heroes she gazes with no concern.

* * *

A few weeks later after the exam, she receives a letter from U.A, telling her (by courtesy of the top hero, All Might) that she passed the entrance exam. She was relieved at the news but somehow, not surprised. In all honesty, her mind was never all in clouds about whether she passed the exam or not, but rather, her mind was focused on certain person she met during the exam.

With a Quirk with no physical labor of his, she realized that the practical exam was unfair to some people. There are probably some people who only had healing Quirks that wants to become a hero, but because of the practical exam (by the U.A), they probably failed.

These had been in her head from now, ever since her talk with _Shinso Hitoshi_ with his unique Quirk. One thing she is sure, that he is probably not surprised that he received the letter that he failed the exam. But, one thing that she was also sure that he won't give up from becoming a hero, and he is probably applying in another school by now.

 _Discrimination..._ She never thought that there would be a discrimination among the heroes just because you have a… unheroic Quirk. Or maybe, it's the masses who discriminates them, according to Shinso.

This is one thing that she didn't expect from the hero society.

She thought heroes were open-minded people. Ready to accept _everything;_ servants of goodwill and envoys of justice.

 _No, she should have known better._

 _Heroes_ are _not_ perfect beings. This should have been obvious to her at the start but it slipped from her mind.

 **Men are not born equal.**

She remembered someone quoting this. A phrase that was familiar yet unknown to her.

It is true that not all men are equal. Some are people are poor, rich, weak, strong. It's a matter of comparison, a comparison made by society that no matter how or what we are, we'll never reach from each other.

In other words, we, human beings are flawed by nature. Just because we have Quirks, doesn't mean we're no exception from this. Of course, this includes especially the heroes, after all, they are also human beings.

 _Don't think of them as Gods, Hayami._ She told herself. _Don't divide your perspective just because they are different. Think of them with their individuality and their flaws. Be open-minded and understand; in that, you'll understand them as a whole._

In truth, she did think that heroes as glorified beings, almost close to the divines—of how they were revered by the society as their idols, burdened by expectations along with the absence of freedom.

In the case of Hayami Eshima, she was nothing in this society, only tolerated by existence and seemingly had no business in all of this. She was no hero and she looked up no hero. She was on her own, left by her devices with a certain hobby that involves with her hyper-curiosity. But, despite her independence as her individuality, she can't help but ask herself.

 _Does she truly belong?_

This haunts her that despite in her independence, she will be left alone in this world.

 _Unable to fit in._

This was her greatest fear, a fear that has been with her as long as she can remember _,_ crawling to her spine in reminder.

" _You don't belong in this world. You are burdened with something greater."_

The only memory left in her mind, a dark and hollow voice as if taunting her to submit.

 _A fear that was installed to her very existence._

* * *

 **Before you all started yelling at me, I have a draft version of this story on Wattpad. And yes, it was written by the same person (jayyshaa)-the name should have been obvious. Though, this version is more _complete_ than what I posted in Wattpad and 50% different, both in context and content (at least in this chapter).**

 **For some clarification for my OC, Hayami Eshima: like I said in the last chapter, she's a character with lots of contradiction. I think it was evident in this chapter (or was it just me?). To be honest, I struggled a lot whenever she had an 'epiphany' to herself and tried my best to make her have not-OP Quir** **k which was my biggest struggle when writing the revelation part. And I tried to write her as human-like as possible.**

 **If you have questions or still confused or had some thoughts in this chapter, leave a review or PM me.**

 _ **Feedback is also appreciated!**_

 _ **Until next chapter!**_


	3. Classmates

**Chapter 3: Classmates**

 _"Good friends are like stars, you don't always see them but you know they are there."_

 _(Christy Evans)_

* * *

It was early in the morning.

Susume and Hayami is currently standing in the door with bouquet of flowers resting in their hands. Standing stiffly beside her aunt, the girl gulped nervously. The closed door in front of them—and the person behind that door, finally, she will be able to meet her savior that was lost in her memories.

And the person who seemed to be involved in her memories.

Her adoptive mother, Hayami Kotone is just sitting right behind the door.

Looking at her niece, Susume smiled at her in reassurance as if seeing her tension racking up to her body. The girl smiled at her in return, touched at small gesture to comfort her. With a nod, her aunt grasped the door knob, turning it to open and pushed it aside with a creaking noise.

Timidly following her aunt, she tried her best to not show her disgust at the smell of sterile reeking in the room. She brushed under her nose with her fingers, trying to lessen her intake of the strong scent.

"Good morning, nee-san."

Susume greeted with a soft smile. Peeking from behind her aunt, Hayami saw a woman with same stature of her aunt. Raven black hair, golden-brown eyes and heart-shaped face. She was currently sitting up in the hospital bed along with the white hospital gown.

"Good morning." The woman greeted back with a brief tilt of her head. "I assume the doctor called you to visit me, isn't it?"

"Uh, yeah." The other sister laughed nervously. "He also told me you can finally see her too."

The youngest occupant of the room looked up to her aunt in confusion.

The eldest sister gasped. "Wha...?"

As if to answer her question, Susume side-stepped to show a confused Hayami standing behind her. She looked at her aunt with a frown.

She wasn't informed about this.

"Eshima...-chan?"

Hearing her name from the woman, she snapped her attention to her.

"Yes...?" She hesitantly confirmed, not knowing how to react.

"Can you... come closer?"

Hayami walked closer to the bed, by request of the woman. She stood bristled beside the hospital bed, ignoring the strange look from woman as she wandered her attention everywhere. The girl can't help but noticed in the corner of her eyes that the creepy stare trailing to her face was quite similar to her aunt that she received before the _certain_ entrance exam.

"Is it really... you?" Her adoptive mother gasped out, as if she can't believe what she was seeing in front of her.

She blinked, a bit surprised at her words. Of course, it is her. The _Hayami Eshima_ is standing right in front of her, healthy and well. The girl with pink-hair and blue eyes. Along with the appearance of poor imitation of a cat girl without a tail, just a boring cat ears resting above her head.

Of course, it is her the whole time. What did she expect? A ghost?

Without warning, she found herself being wrapped around by a warm embrace. In shock, she immediately recoiled, shoving her arms away from her. The unfamiliar kind gesture was so alien to her that she backed away from the bed, back-stepping towards her aunt.

"Ah, I'm sorry, nee-san." Susume tried to explain when her niece neared towards her. "Hugging is not really her thing and also... she doesn't really know about you because..."

Kotone gasped, and after a while, she sighed as if she was relieved at her sister's words. "Really? Oh my god, Hayami-chan..." She shot her with an apologetic smile. "Will you... still forgive me?"

Again, she blinked at her words. Her aunt's words had some truth in it. Hugging was something that she thought that she didn't deserve at all and familial gestures is all completely unknown to her. Hugging, she thought, was something that should be an act, wrapping around their arms to another person in complete trust. To Hayami, the reason why she didn't deserve it, is because of all the actions she did these past few years.

What kind of actions? It's obvious. The fact that she is an eavesdropper. A secret probing trash, a small pest hiding in the shadows to satisfy her selfish curiosity. A meddling cat that spies people without consent.

Who puts their trust for someone like that?

But that wasn't just all...

"You... didn't offend me at all, um, Kotone-san..." She struggled to find the words to continue. "I just... I think for a person like you doesn't deserve someone like me."

"Eh…? Why?" Her adoptive mother genuine looked at her in surprise.

"Because..." She bit her lip, next words running almost unconsciously. "I did that to you, isn't it?"

Kotone looked at her adopted daughter with wide eyes, stunned at her words. After a moment, she turned to her sister.

"I thought she doesn't remember..."

Susume looked at her niece, also stunned. "I thought so too..."

 _Well, consider me an odd one out then_. She thought sarcastically. In all honesty, those words just came out of nowhere from her mouth. According to those words, she seemed to be the reason why her adoptive mother became like this.

But what? How? Her _curiosity_ is acting up again, as usual.

"Um..." The woman in bed awkwardly tried to break the silence. "Anyway, how are you, Eshima-chan?"

"It's okay, I guess..." The girl replied with the level of unease.

"Oh..."

Silence.

The pregnant silence overcame the room again. The other sister, Susume can't help but inwardly sighed at the atmosphere between the two. These two, her niece and her sister, are not exactly people pleaser, even worse, can't even start a conversation. But, despite not being related to each other, there are similarities between them that surprisingly concede with each other coincidentally.

When the two of them met in the past, they did not get along with each other. Even if her sister is the savior of her adopted niece, both of them barely talked to each other. But even so, she can't easily miss the look of admiration of the young girl directed to her sister who, unsurprisingly, had the same look of adoration of the pink-haired girl.

Even though that was all in the past.

The situation between them got complicated now. The memory loss of the young girl and the side-effect of her sister's Quirk led them into this. Their relationship between them got even more strained and both of them had no choice. The consequences of her sister's actions led this situation—to her adored adopted daughter's memories.

Susume still doesn't understand what led them into this situation.

Sighing, she held up her hands in defeat. "Can you two just stop... _this?_ " She gestured the room. "Today supposed to be both of your birthdays and you're ruining it yourselves."

"Ah." Both mother and daughter made a sound of realization.

"'Ah' it is. And no, it's not part of April Fools. I had no time to prepare a prank for the both of you. Don't tell me you forgot about it?" She looked at the girls, taking in their surprised expression. "Wait, don't tell me, you _actually_ forgot it?" She turned to her niece. "Even you?"

Hayami lifted her shoulders in a shrug. She did forget that it was her birthday today, her mind was busy with the fact that they were visiting her adoptive mother today, not exactly right on her mind to be thinking about birthdays. And also, the fact that her birthday correlated in the same day as the April Fools' Day didn't exactly made her happy. At all. She still had bad memories when her aunt pulled a prank to her before she greeted her with a loud 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY, APRIL FOOLS' GIRL!' accompanied with a loud trumpet.

God, she hated that day and the forsaken nickname.

"Ah, sorry, little sister. I was just happy that I was able to see my dear daughter right in front of me." The elder sister smiled. "Thank you, Mai-nee-chan."

"You're welcome, Kotone-nee-san."

Hayami looked at the sisters with faint smile. Seeing her aunt mellowed out by the presence of her twin sister was quite a sight to behold. She was used to seeing her aunt being the extrovert, always talking and a natural active person. She looked at her aunt happily, seeing her happily talking with her sister with a smile etched to her face. Seeing her aunt being like this, it brought a smile to her face. Even though she's just looking at the sideline, it didn't fail her to see someone being happy for the sake of happiness.

"By the way," Susume looked at Hayami. "I'm sure Eshima-kun has a lot to talk about what happened these past few years, isn't it?"

The girl stiffened at the attention she received from the women.

"Is that true, Eshima-chan?" Kotone gently smiled at Hayami. "Can I hear about it, please?"

Looking at the women in front of her in bewilderment, she sighed in defeat soon after. Seriously, she really can't blame her aunt dragging her into conversation, isn't it?

"Of course. I can tell you about it." She dragged a chair beside the bed in safe distance.

Her mother beamed at her. "It is nice to talk to you like this, isn't it?"

"Yes... it is nice." The girl agreed, almost wistfully. "So, what do you want to hear about?"

The woman hummed in thought, putting her finger under her chin before her eyes lit up.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

Hayami nearly fell from her chair in shock. Her aunt's strangled snort can be heard from the background.

* * *

Finally, it's the day.

The first day of high school.

Hayami stared blankly at the ceiling, the white sheets of her blanket lazily draped around her body. She sleepily blinked at the hollow pattern above her, the sun still barely breaking the horizon yet. It was dawn, the purplish scenery outside apparent of its time of the day.

She slowly sat up from her bed, still clutching her big soft pillow in her arms. She had been awake for a while now. The dreaded day first of school was silently looming above her head that she barely had enough sleep. The anxiety building up in her gut was churning that it gave her a mild stomachache last night.

Despite her wishes to stay in the bed, she forced herself to get up and folded the bed. She silently opened the closet and prepared her school uniform in her bed before she went out from bedroom for a shower.

Distracting herself from these small everyday activities, she tried to suppress her nervousness from the cold water running to her body. She had never been this anxious before.

Maybe, perhaps, the school she was going is a hero school is what making her nervous.

U.A., of all places.

She felt her anxiety build up again and shook her head at the thoughts, her hair splashing around her.

Distracting herself, she remembered a few days ago that she had a talk with her adoptive mother. She mentioned to her that her high school days will be spent in a hero school. When she was asked what hero school, she answered the U.A High School.

 _Instead beaming face she expected, she was met with a worried look. "Are you sure, Eshima-chan? As I remember, you didn't like U.A, right?"_

 _Hayami blinked at her mother, surprised. "What…? I hate U.A?"_

 _"Yes, that's what you mentioned... or at least, from I heard. You didn't liked that school because All Might went there before, isn't that what you told... oh, right. You didn't have your memories. Sorry, Eshima-chan, let's talk about something else."_

And the conversation about it ends there.

 _She hated U.A?_ It's true that she's not fond of the school because of their acceptance rate and the grandiose image it evoked from the media but... with the reason she hated it because All Might use to go there—that's weird reason to hate the school. All Might is a pleasant person, only an unreasonable person can hate All Might. Maybe, a handful of villains too.

Not to mention, U.A. produced a lot of heroes that was considered 'prodigious' by the masses. Basically, the school is the pinnacle of great heroes.

But if she used to hate All Might in the past, then that explains the discomfort feeling whenever she's with him. His bright smile, his strong stature, his optimism—no wonder she found it aggravating.

Because she used to hate him before.

But why? Why would she hate All Might of all people? Is it the fact that he is strongest hero that she found him vexing? She had been asking a lot questions these days. Particularly about All Might. And his mysterious skinny form. And his relationship with Midoriya Izuku.

She sighed at the shower. Instead of nervousness, a headache had started to gain in the back of her mind. Seriously, those two... thinking about them will be her early death if she continue to think about them.

Turning the shower off, she grabbed her towel and wrapped it around her body before she went out the bathroom to prepare her first day of school.

* * *

The sun had finally peaked the horizon. The lone pink-haired student leaned against the window of the train, the cold glass of the mirror touching her cheek. Peeking behind from the transparent window, the blurring scenery reflected in her eyes.

Today had been _unintentionally_ excruciatingly slow for some reason and Hayami doesn't really know whether she should be thankful or curse about it. Thankful, because she hoped that she will never arrived at the school. Cursing, because she wanted to get on and be done with it, wanting to end the day to rest in her bed.

She sighed once again. She had already made a quick text to Izuku but he still haven't replied back yet. Though, in his defense, it was still early in the morning. She's not really surprise that he still didn't responded, expecting that he's still asleep.

But she really want a companion to go with the school. Especially that she's super nervous right now. Being the only student riding in the train early in the morning, the racking silence around her didn't exactly helped her at all to ease her nerves.

A lingering pang of guilt shot through her. She really shouldn't made a decision to become a hero to challenge herself. And her life would have been better than suffer through the hardships…

She inwardly hit herself in the head. _Stupid, stupid, what are you talking about, Eshima?! If you didn't take this choice, you would have been continue to live miserably! And like your aunt said,_ _trusting only your curiosity is bad road to take!_ She repeatedly hit herself at the window.

Scolding herself at those thoughts, she was met with silence like an old friend. Along with the occasional rumbling of the train before it stopped at the station. Seeing the train door opening, she stood up from her seat and walked out to the station as she arrived in her destination. She lifted her right arm, wrinkling the sleeve to glance at her wristwatch.

 **6:28 AM.**

After she saw the time, she decided just walk ahead until she reached the school as an exercise—and also the fact that it was still early in the morning.

 _U.A., Here I come… ugh…_

Even though she tried to convince herself that it was _just_ a school not some sort of battlefield, she can't really deny that it was _U.A,_ one of the most prestigious and a national school to the boot and now she's attending there as a high school student.

And the reason she was going there because she wanted to challenge herself to become a hero.

She hanged her head in defeat. She was digging her own grave at this.

"I hope it's not full of stuck-up people..."

Unenthusiastically walking towards to her destination, she can only voice out her futile hope.

* * *

 _Her body felt heavy. She can't get up, she can't move. For some reason, her heart felt heavy too._

 _"Hey, should we wake her up? She's been sleeping here for a while now. I mean, she's the first one to arrive here, right?"_

 _She forced her body to get up. But, as if she was defying the laws of that world, her body became heavier as a punishment._

 _"Wahh, she's so cute! Especially those twitching ears! I wonder if she'll let me touch them."_

 _She struggled to breath, she struggled to defy. She tried to look up above her, only to realize that her eyes were closed only seeing the darkness, as if she can't open them to begin with._

 _"Please don't crowd her, everyone. She's probably tired. We'll wake her up when our homeroom teacher arrives."_

 _She frowned in confusion. Why can't she open her eyes? What is she doing here? Why does she feel trapped in this world?_

 _Without warning, a voice loudly echoed in the darkness._

 **Wake up!**

She jolted awake from her dream. Blinking furiously, looking around her before meeting the unfamiliar faces crowding her with startled faces. Seeing them swarming around her, she stiffened.

"Are you okay? It looks like you just woke up from a nightmare." The girl with purple hair and weird ears looked at her worriedly.

"Yeah. I'm okay." She tried to reassure, her voice strangely high-pitched.

"Are you sure? You look really pale..." The pink-haired girl with strange eyes observed her closely, causing Hayami to lean back at the close proximity. "And also, look at her head! Aren't we look kinda similar?" The strange girl squished their cheeks cheerfully, rubbing their faces together. Hayami trembled at the effort to not push her away from her. She doesn't really want her first impression to them as rude person.

"Everyone, please crowding her! Can't you see that she's uncomfortable?" The dark-haired girl with a ponytail softly scolded them. After that, they dispersed away from her causing Hayami to sigh in relief.

"I'm sorry about that. It's the first day of school so they kind of... excited of the new faces." The same girl who scolded the others smiled softly at her. The pinkette smiled back at her in gratitude.

"It's okay. I was just overwhelmed..." Her words trailed off, her eyes lowering at the girl's chest unintentionally.

"Oh, really?" The dark-haired girl laughed, completely oblivious of the stare. "I can't blame you. I mean, I'm a bit overwhelmed too since this is..."

Hayami no longer heard her other companion talking to her, only staring at her chest before she looked down at her own. She deadpanned. _U.A doesn't only have stuck-up people, they also have the greatest asset too..._

"Oh, how rude of me! I still haven't introduced myself!" The sophisticated girl gasped in realization. "My name is _Yaoyorozu Momo_ , nice to meet you."

"My name is Hayami Eshima, nice to meet you too, _Yao-momo_." She stopped, realizing what she just called her. "Ah, is it okay for me to call you Yao-momo?"

Yaoyorozu hummed in thought. " _Yao-momo?_ I see, you combine my last and first name!" She smiled widely at her, nodding. "Sure! You can always call me that!"

Hayami smiled at Yao-momo. Seeing a modest and sophisticated girl was a fresh start for her. Compared to her classmates from her last school, they were prideful and arrogant. Especially with their status, boasting their jaw-dropping prices of their accessories that they constantly flaunt almost every day.

Well, at least, they ignored her throughout those school years.

"By the way, Eshima-san—wait, is it alright with you to call you that?" She was affirmed with a nod. "Okay. Eshima-san, what junior high did you come from?"

"Ah, I came from—"

 _"Don't put your feet on the desk! Don't you think that's rude to the U.A. upperclassmen and the people who made the desk?!"_

 _"Well, I don't! What junior high did you go to, you goddamn side character?"_

Turning her attention at the front, Hayami deadpanned at the sight. _Great, I'm actually the same class as him..._ She stared, disgruntled at the blonde-haired boy arguing with dark-haired boy with glasses. She blinked at the familiar glasses boy before she slumped in her chair in recognition. _And with him, too? Geez..._

She remembered him back at the entrance exam few weeks ago. He was the one who reprimanded Midoriya for being loud during at the orientation. She still remembered his words directed at her friend.

 _"You've been muttering this whole time, it's distracting! If you're here on a pleasure trip, then you should leave immediately!"_

In her case, she can understand why he was annoyed at him (she found him a bit irritated too that day but she didn't exactly mind) but he shouldn't have mentioned that and left him alone...

With a twitch of her ears, she heard the door being opened at the front. Turning her attention to it, she smiled at the familiar green-haired boy and waved at him in attention. Midoriya beamed at her when he saw her. He tried to run towards her but he was stopped by glasses boy.

"Do you happen to know him, Eshima-san?" Yao-momo curiosity asked her, seeing her waving at Midoriya.

"Ah, yes, I do. He's my... friend, sort of." She nervously laughed, not exactly knowing what she should call her green-haired _supposed to be_ childhood friend.

The girl in front of her nodded. "I see." Both of them turned their attention at the front, listening at the conversation between Midoriya and glasses boy.

The uptight glasses boy introduced himself as Iida Tenya to the jumpy green-haired boy who also introduced himself in return. The two continued talking one-sidedly from the bespectacled boy who suddenly apologized something with the words like 'practical exams' and 'I misjudged you!'.

Hayami blinked at Iida's words. _Did something happened?_ Since she wasn't placed in the same battle center as him, she can't help but be curious. It wasn't the same curiosity that she usually had just to satiate her interest, she was only worried about the well-being of her friend.

"Oh, that curly hair, that plain-looking one! You passed, just like Present Mic said! Of course you did, your punch was amazing!"

A bubbly brown-haired girl arrived at the scene, successfully bombarding the conversation between the two boys. When Midoriya saw her, he turned red turn like a tomato, covering his flushed face from her sight as he tried to greet her. Seeing this scene at the distance, Hayami inwardly laughed at his embarrassed face. Quite a sight, indeed.

 _"Go somewhere else if you want to play at being friends."_

Midoriya, Iida and the brown-haired girl, Uraraka froze at the weary voice. Stiffly turning their heads, they saw a man lying in the ground with a sleeping bag. Hayami stood up from her chair, trying to see where they captured their attention.

"Okay, it took eight seconds before you've gone quiet." The man unzipped his sleeping bag and stood up. "Time is limited. You kids are not rational enough."

Silent murmurs broke out in the classroom, wondering who the tired dark-haired man was. The man answered their question.

"I'm your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shota. Nice to meet you." He dryly greeted. He nonchalantly ignored the gasps from his students in the classroom as he grabbed something from his sleeping bag. "It's kind of sudden, but put this on and go out onto the field." He informed them and in his hand, he held a patterned red, blue and white tracksuit.

"For what?" One student asked.

"For Quirk assessment test."

"For Quirk assessment test?!"

* * *

All of the students were lead out from their classroom, was forced to change their clothes and arrived at the massive field in front of the gymnasium. When Hayami saw the large area in her own eyes, she silently wondered how much money they spend for this space.

"This has been in my mind but sensei," Uraraka hesitantly spoke, "what about the entrance ceremony? The orientation?"

"If you're going to become a hero, you don't have time for such leisurely events." Aizawa wryly said as if it was obvious. "U.A.'s selling point is how unrestricted its school tradition are. That's also how the teachers run their classes."

Hayami put fingers under her chin in thought. _Then, that means they doesn't exactly follow traditional rules does in their school...? Wait, does U.A. even had rules on their own?_

"You kids have been doing these since junior high, too, right? Physical fitness tests where you weren't allowed to use your Quirks." He held a device to them, showing a listed physical activities on it. The pinkette raised an eyebrow at this, knowing exactly where he was going. He continued, "The country still uses averages taken from the results from students not using their Quirks. It's not rational. Well, the Ministry of Education is procrastinating." He finished his explanation while the girl grimaced at the last part how he delivered his criticism dryly.

After that, the dark-haired teacher turned to Bakugo. "Bakugo, you finished at the top of the practical exam, right? In junior high, what was your best result for the softball throw?"

"67 meters."

"Then, try doing it with your Quirk."

The blond obeyed his teacher's words as he walked. But not before he roughly bumped his shoulders roughly with the cat-eared girl. She glared at the back of his head.

"Are you okay, Eshima-san?" Yao-momo's voice beside her snapped her out in attention.

"Ah, yeah! I'm okay." She reassured, waving her hands in dismissal.

When Bakugo arrived at the position inside the circle pointed by his teacher, he waited. Aizawa nodded at him. "You can do whatever you want as long as you stay in the circle. Give it all you got."

Bakugo gripped his hand to the ball. He stretched his arms, rolling his shoulders around before he got into a position. Among the onlookers, Hayami braced herself for the loud promised blast from his hand.

 _"Die!"_

With an explosion, the ball from his hand flew away rapidly with the added blast to his pitch. His fellow students watched his performance in awe, their eyes wide in amazement. Except for the two; Midoriya blinking at signature war cry of his friend and Hayami covering her ears from the loud volume of his explosive Quirk.

"Know your maximum first." Aizawa said, looking at the device in his hand as it made a 'beep' noise. "That is the most rational way to form the foundation of a hero." He held the device to them, showing the distance of the ball that Bakugo threw; 705.2 meters.

"705 meters, for real?" The blonde haired boy standing on Yao-momo left side, exclaimed in disbelief.

"What's this? It looks fun!"

"We can use our Quirks as much as we want! As expected from the hero course!"

Hearing the enthusiastic cries from her classmates, Hayami felt the opposite. In her perspective, this was a test, not a freedom to playfully use their Quirk recklessly. Judging from the expression of her teacher of the reaction of his students, he seem to be thinking the same. Looking at her classmates, she can only sigh at them.

"'It looks fun', huh?" He repeated their words. "You have three years to become a hero. Will you have an attitude like that the whole time?" He scolded with the same dry voice. After a moment, he gave them a wicked smile. "All right. Whoever comes in last place in all eight tests will be judged to have no potential and will be punished with expulsion."

"Huh?!" The class collective gasped in shock.

"We're free to do what we want about the circumstances of our students." Their teacher clarified with a grin. "Welcome to U.A.'s hero course, students."

"The person in the last place will be expelled?!" Uraraka protested. "But it's the first day of school. No, even if it wasn't first day of school, this is too unfair!"

"Natural disasters, big accidents, and selfish villains." Their teacher started. "Calamities whose time or place can't be predicted. The world is covered with unfairness. Heroes are the ones who reverse those situations." He stared at each of his students with scrutinizing gaze. "If you wanted to go talk with your friends at Mickey D's after school, well, too bad. For the next three years, U.A. will do all it can give to you one hardship after another. Overcome it with all you got." He wearily smiled at them, taunted them with his finger. "Go beyond. Plus Ultra."

Hayami silently chuckled at her teacher when he ended his speech with the school's catchphrase. Seriously, her training with her aunt along with Midoriya and All Might, they screamed it a lot whenever they (Midoriya and All Might) pushed too hard with their training.

 _Go beyond! PLUS ULTRA!_

She held back a giggle when she recalled it.

"All right, demonstration is over." Aizawa stated. "The real thing starts now."

Her classmates bristled, nodding at their teacher with a collective 'yes, sir' as they faced him with determination.

After her classmates sauntered away, she sighed, trying lesson her nervousness. The tension of the class and the strict attention of their teacher, it was definitely what she expected. U.A. As the pinnacle of heroes, she never expected that their teachers are free to do what they want to their students. She always had this image in her head that U.A. are always strict, almost suffocating their students with responsibility...

 _I guess it wasn't really that far off._ Her expectation was satisfied at least, though she doesn't really know what to expect from on.

But still...

 _Don't disappoint me, U.A._ , She smiled in excitement. _Don't make me regret this decision to enter your school._

Following her classmates, she felt herself lighten up as she walked with them.

* * *

 _"On your mark... get set...!"_

Hayami watched at the sideline as Iida and the frog-like girl raced forward to the finished line. With the A.I. controlled robot on standby waiting at the finished line, it announced their record time when they reached there.

"3.04 seconds." It announced Iida's record. "5.58 seconds." It announced for the girl too.

The pinkette locked her gaze at Iida's feet, impressed at its speed power. _I guess, that's expected._ She shrugged. A 50-meter dash is basically his trump card.

Then she turned her attention to the frog-like girl. Unexpectedly, she found herself standing face-to-face with the said girl. She backed away in surprise.

"Hello there. My name is Asui Tsuyu, nice to meet you." The frog girl introduced.

"H-hello. I'm Hayami Eshima, it's nice to meet you too." She stuttered, a bit rattled.

Asui smiled, a tongue hanging in the corner of her lips. "I'm sorry for startling you. I just feel a bit kinship with you, that's all."

Hayami raised an eyebrow. _Kinship...?_ She proceeded to observe her frog friend beside her and immediately understood why. Both of them are short—almost the same height (Hayami is a bit taller) and had animalistic traits. She laughed as she silently agreed.

"No wonder." The cat-eared girl responded with a smile. Asui gave her a closed-eyed smile.

After that, they turned their attention at the next pair. A bubbly brown-haired girl, Uraraka Ochaco and a blonde tailed boy named Ojiro Mashirao. She blinked. There seemed to be a lot blonde-haired boys in her class. There's Bakugo, a boy beside Yao-momo earlier, the tailed boy in the current race and also... that sparkling boy that everyone doesn't seem to notice...

 _"Mademoiselle."_ Ah, speaking of the devil... "May I ask the name of the aesthetically lady?"

She frowned. "What did you just say?"

"Uh, 'May I ask the name of the aesthetically lady?'?"

She shook her head. "No, 'aesthetically lady'. What's that supposed to mean?"

The sparkling boy hummed alluringly, or tried to. "It means you are _acceptably…_ good-looking in my standards."

"Oh... okay." She's not quite sure how to respond to that.

"...may I ask the name of the aesthetically—"

"It's Hayami Eshima. Nice to meet you."

He offered his hand, all while still sparkling. "I'm Aoyama Yuga. Nice to meet you—"

 _"Ashido Mina. Aoyama Yuga."_ The A.I. robotic voice conveniently announced.

"Oh, my. Looks like it's my turn. Until next time, _mademoiselle."_ Aoyama smiled at her that she found weird rather than creepy. She watched him go beside the familiar pink-haired girl. She blinked in recognition. It was the girl who invaded her personal space and hugged her earlier. She made a quick note of her name. _Ashido Mina._

She watched them both, making quick assessment of their performance. Ashido seems to secrete something from her bare feet (she removed her shoes) that makes her go faster (or in closer inspection, make her slippery) and glides while she runs. Aoyama shoots a beam from his stomach (maybe lower...) and used it as a propeller.

She nodded approvingly in their methods. Sometimes, you have to be diverse when it comes to your Quirk. When a situation calls it, creativity is what matters to survive. That's what her aunt says. She briefly glanced at their teacher wondering if he had the same thoughts before she paid attention to the next pair.

Sero Hanta and Tokoyami Fumikage. Sero used his Quirk, which she speculated as Tape, to maneuver himself to the finished line by latching on the A.I. robot. Hayami looked at the robot in confusion wondering how the heck it didn't fall down at his weight but she brushed it away and guessed that it must have been heavier than it looks. Tokoyami, in his case, had a dark entity sprouting from his torso. Hayami raised an eyebrow at the sight. The dark entity looks sentient and it even looks like Tokoyami, judging from his bird head.

Everything came by with a breeze. Yao-momo using a roller blades that came out of nowhere. Kaminari Denki, Sato, Rikido, Koda Koji, Shoji Mezo, Kirishima Eijiro, Jiro Kyouka, Hagakure Toru (which she didn't noticed earlier until she was called), and Mineta Minoru all ran normally. Possibly their Quirk unsuitable in this type of exercise. Hayami patiently watched at the side before her name was called along with her partner.

 _"Hayami Eshima. Todoroki Shoto."_

Her ear perked up at her name. And for another reason. _Todoroki..._ she heard that name before but somehow, she can't grasp it.

Hayami positioned herself beside Todoroki as she gave him a smile of acknowledgement. He barely glanced at her, his eyes indifferent trained at the finished line. Her smile became awkward at his lack of response.

 _"On your mark... get set...!"_

She readied herself. She glanced mutely beside her, noticing the cold temperature seeping from him.

 _"Go!"_

She broke to a run but became disoriented when a wall of ice came to her peripheral vision. Realizing that it was Todoroki's Quirk, she quickly regained herself and ran the best she could. Following her classmate's glacier wall, she was impressed at his control. Even though it was still sloppy (because she nearly got impaled from a spike of ice) he was able to not scatter it deliberately—making a wall of ice in a straight line towards the finished line.

 _"4.00 seconds."_ Todoroki arrived. _"4.49 seconds."_ Hayami shortly came after.

She gasped at her record. That was definitely faster than she expected. Back on those (hell) training days, her aunt didn't exactly timed her; her aunt wasn't worried about it. She just kept advising her to be faster _than her_.

And also speaking about her aunt, she remembered her words.

" _It's complicated. To answer your question—yes, you have multiple Quirks and," she searched for better words. "…I don't know the reason behind it."_

She remembered her aunt's words back then. What does she mean that doesn't know the reason behind it?

 _"Do you remember when we talk about your memories few months ago? As promised, we will talk about it… with her."_

She did talk with her adoptive mother about it. But when she did, she gave her an unsatisfying answer.

 _"I'm not allowed to talk about it. For now. I'm sorry."_

Then the conversation abruptly ended there as if it never happened in the first place.

The way their talk suddenly concluded there was unnerving. And she wondered why her adoptive mother is still stubbornly hiding it from her. Doesn't she deserved to know about it? It was her memories _and_ her Quirk in the first place.

 _She's obviously hiding something._ She found herself seething instead her usual curiosity. For some reason, she can't seem to _easily_ trust her adoptive mother. She was aware that she used to look up to her through the cracks of her forgotten memories. But now, she doesn't know. She can't convince herself to trust _Kotone_ anymore as if the bridge between them was already destroyed into nothing.

 _Nothing._

Snapping out from her musing, she heard Yao-momo calling her. Glancing at her direction, she realized that it was already the next test. Brushing all the upsetting thoughts from her head, she headed inside the gymnasium.

* * *

Suddenly losing all her enthusiasm because of her previous thoughts, she half-heartedly done the following test. With an impassive observation, she can only remember the highlights of every test, no longer paying attention to _all_ of her classmates' individual performance.

Grip Strength: Shoji Mezo with a devastating strength of 540 kilograms. Standing Long Jump: Bakugo Katsuki and Aoyama Yuga using their Quirks as a propeller as usual. Repeated Side Steps: unamusingly, Mineta Minoru.

And finally, the fifth test, the Ball Throw which they are currently doing now. But the top contender was pretty obvious since Uraraka got infinity record using her Quirk to float the ball away.

Hayami nodded approvingly at the brown-haired girl. As she noticed, Uraraka has never made any impressive marks in every exercise until now. Pleased by the progress of the girl, she almost unconsciously gave her a thumbs up as Uraraka smiled in return at her gesture.

Oh, right. Speaking of progress...

She worriedly glanced at Midoriya. During all those exercise they took, he seemed to be always behind. That's natural, isn't it? Compared to everyone else, he seemed to be one acting like he's nothing special. He _is_ _Quirkless,_ after all _._ She bit her lip at the thought. That fact doesn't seem to be a fact anymore. She had suspicion about him that he's no longer Quirkless.

After all, he's been taught under _that_ man.

When she glanced at him and caught each other's gaze, she gave him a small smile and waved. He can only returned her gesture with a hesitant smile before his name was called.

 _"Midoriya Izuku."_

Hayami followed her eyes to him as he positioned himself inside the circle. With the cue of their teacher to start, she looked eagerly at him about what he is about to do.

"It doesn't look good for Midoriya if he continues like this."

"Huh? Of course not. He's a Quirkless small fry, you know."

"Quirkless?! Are you not aware of what he did in the practical exam?"

"Huh?"

She frowned at their words. _Again with the practical exam..._ When she had a time later on, she will ask Midoriya about it.

She watched said boy clutching the baseball ball in his hand. He looked down at the ball with a worried face. While Hayami watching at the distance, she could only wonder what was going on to his mind.

In a moment of determination, he finally threw—

—Hayami felt a chill crawled down to her spine.

"46 meters."

She exhaled in relief, wondering where the chill came from.

"I erased your Quirk."

She turned her head to her teacher in wonder. She found herself blinking owlishly at the sight of floating scarf (was it scarf to begin with?) around the teacher with red glowing eyes. She looked between Midoriya and their teacher before she realized that Aizawa's eyes was his Quirk.

Hayami would be lying if she says that it doesn't remind of her companion back then at the practical exam.

"That practical exam was definitely not rational," She blinked at the words 'practical exam', "even a kid like you was accepted."

Even though it wasn't directed to her, she felt offended.

"You erased my Quirk?" Hayami's ears perked up at the words 'my Quirk'. "Those goggles... I see! You can erase other people's Quirks with your Quirk just by looking at them. The Erasure Hero, Eraser Head!"

After those identification words from Midoriya's fanboy knowledge, she would _definitely_ would be lying if she says that it _absolutely_ didn't remind her of Hitoshi Shinso. Both the nature of their Quirk was too similarly uncanny. And the worn-out appearance didn't escape its coincidence between them either.

From her peripheral vision, she saw her classmates gathered together in wonder about their teacher. Asui thankfully clarified that he's an underground hero; a hero who is constantly avoiding the media. Hayami inwardly thanked her for the information.

"From what I can tell, you can't control your Quirk, right?" Her ear twitched again at the mention of Quirk. "Do you intend to become incapacitated again and have someone save you?"

"That's not my intention—"Midoriya tried to defend.

As if it had a mind of its own, the cloth around the teacher grabbed the boy and dragged him towards him. "Whatever your intention, I'm saying that's what those around you will be forced to do."

Midoriya, as if reflecting his teacher's words, an image of a pink-haired girl trying to save him from the sludge villain came intruding to his mind.

Aizawa continued. "In the past, there was an oppressively passionate hero who saved over a thousand people by himself and created a legend. Even if you have the same reckless valor, you'll just be decked and turned into a useless doll after saving one person."

Hayami bristled attentively at those words.

"Midoriya Izuku." Aizawa narrowed his eyes disapprovingly. " _With your power, you can't become a hero."_

Bakugo, as if triggered by the words said by the teacher, a _certain_ forgotten memory came to him.

 _"You want to become a hero?" A mocking laugh. "With a Quirk like that, you think they would acknowledge you as a hero?"_

He gritted his teeth in anger.

"I've returned your Quirk." Aizawa's cloth retreated, along with his glowing red eyes. "You have two turns for the ball throw. Hurry up and get it over with."

Hayami looked at Midoriya worriedly. After being reprimanded like that, she wondered how he would react. And also, judging from the words from the teacher, it confirmed her suspicions that Midoriya _has_ a Quirk. And from those words, she thought she already knew where it came from, like a sliding puzzle finally settling itself from its respective place. But the big picture is still confusing; she had arrange it once again with another question.

 _How did he get it?_

She watched the curly-haired boy, muting everything from her surroundings. Not even noticing a glare from a certain blonde-haired boy as she concentrated to him. She watched him muttering furiously under his breath with a subdue expression on his face.

* * *

Everyone held their breath in anticipation. Hearing the words from Iida about the practical exam, they were curious. Curious at the action from a normal-looking Midoriya who looked Quirkless. Curious at what he did during the practical exam.

 _They were expecting something glorious. Something that's worth praising for. From this normal-looking boy._

He drew his hand, readying himself to throw the ball. He acknowledge the words of his teacher. If he keeps hurting himself, he's not actually saving someone; he's turning himself as casualty in that scenario. That's not a hero should be. In his mind, a hero is someone who smiles in hope, someone who will face the obstacles no matter what it is. Someone who stood tall.

 _Like All Might._

 _Yes..._ he thought. _I will become like that. I_ will _become someone like All Might._

He readied himself once again, making a position.

And threw the ball.

 _But not before—_

He gathered the power at the tip of his dominant finger, the tip where the ball last touches his hand; his index finger. At the gathered power lingering at the tip of his finger, he also prepared himself at the incoming pain. The violent repercussion of using the borrowed power that came from All Might is staggering.

It is a sign that Midoriya is still not enough to handle _his_ power.

 _But that wasn't all about it...!_

He had to show everyone, especially Aizawa-sensei that he is worthy. Worthy of becoming a hero and worthy of wielding this power. He can't afford himself turning into a disappointment when they had expectations shouldered upon on him. The hard work he created in _that_ beach would not be wasted. He can't disappoint All Might in this. Especially Shiichan.

 _Yes, especially her._

In the past, _she_ had been faithful of him at his idea of wanting to become a hero. _She_ trusted him that he will soon become one. Supported him all throughout his childhood when he was always down.

But right now, that's not important.

He had to prove himself to be worthy. In order to do that, he had to show his potential.

 _For now, he had to do what he can right in front of_ _ **them**_ _._

And the ball left his hand, leaving a bruised broken finger in its wake.

 _ **"SMASH!"**_

* * *

Hayami gasped of the firepower Midoriya showed. The display of the fast ball propelling in the distance from his hand left everyone speechless. Still unable to recover at the sight, her eyes found itself to Midoriya's form before it shifted to his finger. She narrowed suspiciously at his damaged finger.

 _Midoriya-kun... you finally had a Quirk..._

It was like yesterday that she had felt shameless when she realized that he was Quirkless. But now, as if fate was smiling at him, he suddenly gained a Quirk that suspiciously similar to All Might.

But...

 _Was it supposed to do that?_ She pointedly stared at his broken finger. Before she can think for speculations, a memory intruded her.

 _"Muscle training, I think... and also probably stamina training. All Might will train my body since he said that if I receive his power prematurely, my body will explode."_

She stood, stunned as she remembered his slip-up.

"This kid," Aizawa grinned, as if impressed of the display that he thought had no potential. Having someone shattered his expectation have been fresh jab to him.

"He got over 700 meters?!" Kaminari exclaimed in disbelief, slightly impressed at the record.

"Finally, a hero-like record!" Uraraka cheered.

"His finger's swollen." Iida inspected. "There was the entrance exam, too. He has a strange Quirk..."

"It's not stylish at all." Aoyama commented, unimpressed.

A series of reactions came crashing from the class. Hayami, still stunned at her memory, finally snapped out of it before she put her hand under her chin thoughtfully.

 _It's confirmed that Midoriya got All Might's power._ The display in front of her and the memory that came to her established that suspicion. She's not going to ask how or why he got it, the one she's curious right now is— _why the heck his finger turned like that after he used it? Was it really because he can't handle it?_

"Hey!" She jumped in surprise. "Tell me what's going on, Deku, you bastard!"

Glancing furiously at the angered Bakugo running towards Midoriya, she blinked at the violent reaction at her friend—she guessed—in confusion. What the heck is he angry about?

A cloth tangled at the furious Bakugo, stopping his advance to attack. She snapped her attention to their teacher.

"They're weapons for capture made of carbon fiber woven together with metal wire made of a special alloy." Aizawa explained before he scowled. "Geez... Don't keep making me use my Quirk over and over. I have dry eye!" He exasperatedly grumbled.

Hayami made a slight nod as she acknowledge his weakness, making a quick note.

"We're wasting time. Whoever's next, get ready." Aizawa closed his eyes, effectively returning Bakugo's Quirk to him. He retreated his weaponized cloth back to his body and back away to monitor the exercises once again.

The pinkette blinked realizing that she's the next one to throw. She shot Midoriya an apologetic smile to his direction as she made her way inside the circle where he just stood earlier.

"You have three tries to throw. Hurry up." The dark teacher tersely nodded at her to begin.

Taking a deep breath, she brought the ball closer to her mouth and closed her eyes. Compared to Midoriya, she can't do amazing feat to her throw. If he does have All Might's power, that means he received the super strength that was formerly wielded by the older man, giving him an advantage at this Ball Throw. With that in mind, she opened her eyes, drew her hands behind her and threw the ball.

 _ **Thud.**_

 _"60 meters."_

She lifted her shoulders in a shrug, not surprised at her anti-climactic record.

 _She doesn't have his Quirk, after all._

* * *

In the following exercise, Hayami didn't left her attention to the wincing Midoriya. From Sit-Ups, Seated Toe-Touch and Long Distance Run, she saw him enduring the pain of his finger, refusing to show weakness to others. While she finds it admirable at best but she can't help but grimaced every time she saw the swollen finger. Having a broken finger takes a _lot_ of tolerance to handle. Her training with her aunt proved that.

While she didn't had any impressive record throughout the exercise, she was consistently leaving an impression in every test. As her teacher noticed, she didn't show any fatigue nor sweat, as if she was used in all of this. Keeping this fact in mind, Aizawa Shota remembered his conversation with the principal earlier.

 _"After the orientation, make Hayami Eshima come to my office later. I've already informed Vlad in Class-B to do the same with Yamabiko-kun."_

 _Aizawa stared indifferently, expertly hiding his frown underneath. "If you don't mind asking, is this the same case just like last year?"_

 _Principal Nedzu gave him a shrewd smile. "You are correct."_

The dark-haired teacher had a neutral trust towards the current U.A. principal. Principal Nedzu may had the appearance of a rodent, his intelligence is not something to be underestimated. He really doesn't know the reason why the principal had a… tendencies for accepting 'oddities' to his school. He wondered if it's just his creepy taste or maybe something dark. He inwardly grumbled. He had no interest of the principal's weird hobbies nor probe his way to his weirdness. Nor influence himself at his dealings.

 _He is here to judge whether his current students are worthy to become the next generation heroes._

Gathering all his students in front of him, he carefully skimmed every one as he saw the pink-hair girl with cat ears helping the boy he chastised earlier. Aizawa stared at them for a while before he started.

"Okay, I'll quickly tell you the results." He dryly announced. "The total is simply the marks you got from each test. It's a waste of time to explain verbally, so I'll show you the result all at once."

Aizawa pressed the device in his hand, showing the hologram of the list of names. He briefly skimmed the list before it stopped at the particular name.

 _ **11\. Hayami Eshima**_

He glanced at the girl behind the hologram, seeing the pinkette nodding her head while shrugging as if she already expected the result. Aizawa speculated that she didn't gave her best in every test.

Huffing, his eyes immediately flew at the end of the names list.

 _ **21\. Midoriya Izuku**_

Studying the defeated expression from the boy, he closed the hologram without warning.

"By the way, I was lying about expulsion." He paused, giving them time to take his words. "It was a rational deception to draw out the upper limits of your Quirks."

As he expected, his students let out a 'WHAT?!' in disbelief.

"Of course that was a lie." He watched the pony-tailed girl, Yaoyorozu sighing, standing beside Hayami. "It should have been obvious if you just thought it through. Right, Eshima-san?"

The pinkette looked surprised when she was suddenly included in the conversation before she nodded in agreement.

"That was a little nerve-wracking, huh?" Sero sighed.

"I'll take up the challenge anytime!" Kirishima confidently pumped his fist.

 _That was a fast recovery than I thought._ Aizawa tucked in the device to his pocket and started to walk while announcing,

"With that, we're done. There are handouts with the curriculum and such in the classroom. When you get back, look over them."

His students collected said 'yes, sir!' to him as he approached Midoriya.

"Have the old lady fix you in the nurse's office." He handed him a permission slip. "Tomorrow will be packed with even more rigorous test. Prepare yourself." He warned the boy walking away from to approach the girl to grant the errand from the principal.

"Hayami." Her attention snapped to him. "After reading the handouts, go to the principal's office. The principal has something to tell you."

Aizawa ignored the surprised looked from Hayami, but not before glancing at Bakugo who keeps glaring at the back of her head as he walked away to his destination towards the faculty office.

As he turned into a corner, he was not surprised to see a mighty form of All Might waiting there. He already know he was there the whole time, ever since he reprimanded Midoriya earlier. Making an indifferent face, he continued his walk.

"Aizawa-kun."

He deadpanned.

"All Might-san."

He _really_ doesn't want to talk with him right now.

* * *

After receiving that shocking news from Aizawa-sensei, she changed her tracksuit into her school uniform. Reading the handouts that was put in their respective desk, she briefly skimmed the paper in her hand before she folded it and put it inside the bag. While her nerves was busily wreaking her, she tried her best not to show her trembling form from others as she opened the classroom door without bidding a farewell to Yao-momo and closed it behind her.

This will be the first time she is sent to the principal's office. She wet her lips in nervousness, wondering the reason why she is sent there in the first place before a thought came to her.

 _Oh, right. Midoriya is still in nurse's office._ Swerving her destination to the nurse's office, she hoped that the distraction will help ease her nerves. Despite all her attempts, her mind keeps reeling back to Aizawa-sensei's words.

 _But seriously though, what did she do to deserve to be sent at the principal's office?_

Walking around the school without a map in hand, it was inevitable that she became lost. Wandering the long hallway without the presence of the students around, it occurred to her mind that she was lost and she panicked a bit. Pacing back and forth wondering what she should do, a voice in the end of hallway became her source of happiness.

 _"Are you fucking lost?" came an incredulously voice._

"Oh, thank goodne—"

Her words got caught in her throat when she saw who it was.

 _A fuming, scowling Bakugo Katsuki._

Hayami felt a familiar chill running down to her spine. It was the same chill she felt during the end of the exercises when their teacher showed the list of names earlier. She remembered how the feeling of a prickling shiver at the back of her neck, she turned her head hesitantly to see Bakugo glaring for some reason as she immediately returned her original position, sweating.

While she actually had no problem with him, glaring at his assholery and his humongous ego, the sight of Bakugo standing at the end of hallway with a shadow ominously casting his face gave him an evil look.

 _And the look on his face._

He's pissed. 100% super pissed. Even though he tried to hide it, the glare gave it away. Especially if the eyes is red. _Mayday, mayday,_ her nerves screamed, telling her to run away. But he stood in front of her as if blocking her way, effectively cutting off her destination. The heavy atmosphere around them didn't help the situation at all.

She almost unconsciously backed away, answering his question with a nod, not trusting her voice to do the good.

He seemed surprised at her admittance for a while before it returned to the usual scowl along with face of wonder. Hayami visibly sighed in relief when his glare turned down but immediately backed away when she saw him started walking towards her.

 _Dear god, if you exist, don't let him hurt me._ She reached out a fleeting prayer as her back touched the wall.

* * *

 _It was her._

Bakugo finally realized who she was.

The childhood 'friend'.

And his **e—n—**.

 _Not a rival. But an_ _ **–ne—**_ _._

 _ **(—0. 1. 3. Proceed—)**_

— to his dreams. The one who didn't follow him. The one who didn't looked at him when he demanded it.

The catalyst of his complex.

When Bakugo met her in the past, she was indifferent at everything. Barely reacting, barely glanced at noticing. She was _frustratingly_ hollow, that it almost made him thought that she must be the void personified.

That was the first time they met.

Bakugo approached her, like every kid who wanted to play. One of his friends brought her into their playdate saying that he brought her along to bond with other children because his father said so. Bakugo, still a naïve innocent kid, leered at her at first—the thought of a girl playing with them—before he casted all his worries away. Why?

 _Who wouldn't want to play with someone who had cat ears?_

And also—

 _Who would never waste the opportunity to turn her into a baiting practice?_

Bakugo smiled at his brilliant thoughts. He started walking towards her, after seeing Deku failing many times to try befriend her, who offered her to play with them. For first time since _she_ arrived, she turned her head.

Their eyes met.

Bakugo felt every essence of his being, his soul _violently_ trembled. The electric blue eyes, the void hanging at the edges of her gaze, the indifferent look in her face, he felt himself recoiled. And for the first time of his life, he felt all of his spirits, his enthusiasm goes down in a drain.

He knows, yes, _he knows what those eyes told him._ Despite being a young boy, he's quite perceptive for his age. _Too perceptive, perhaps_ whenever he _wanted_ to examine something. But from her gaze, it only took him one look of her eyes to _see_ her. Just a single glance.

 _Nothing._

Those were her eyes telling him when their eyes met before she got distracted and looked elsewhere.

Bakugo shook his head when their eyes looked away. _That was the weirdest thing that happened to me,_ he thought back then, not expecting the feelings of depression just by receiving a single gaze from a creepy pink-haired girl.

Almost abruptly, their eyes met by coincidence and this time, the girl seemed surprised.

She blinked at him.

He blinked in response.

She blinked twice.

He blinked at her three times.

She started to stare at him owlishly while still rapidly blinking.

He stared at her incredulously while finding himself imitating her rapid blinking.

This continued on back and forth. And while it still continued between them, he did not realized that in the background, his friends was staring at him worriedly.

For him, this was one of the earliest memory of _her_. The one he found himself recalling every night.

 _Their first interaction._

Almost every day, _she_ tagged along with them, lingering back while watching them play at the distance. Glancing towards her way, he noticed Deku timidly approaching her, trying to befriend her once more. Bakugo scowled at his efforts, knowing that he won't succeed no matter what he do. Despite all these thoughts, he found himself watching them at the distance.

As expected, she ignored him.

He shook his head, an unknown relief washing over him before he called out for Deku, challenging him for skipping stones.

Deku, like a follower he _should_ be, accepted his challenge.

Few days went by and _she_ still tagged along with them, almost dutifully. The four of them (plus _her)_ purchased a hero merchandise in the city as they animatedly raised their bought wrapper together. But Bakugo noticed two wrappers in Deku's hand.

 _"Why do you have two with you?"_

 _"Ah! The other one is for Shiichan."_

He frowned at the unfamiliar name. _Who the heck is that?_

 _"Eh...? Ah!"_ Deku gasped in realization. _"Shiichan! Eshima-chan!"_ He pointed at the only girl in their group.

 _ **(—1. 3.—)**_

At first, Bakugo was shocked. How the heck this trash manage to know her name when _he_ tried to get it out from her? Anger overtook him. _And also that nickname...!_

He glared furiously at Deku who happily approached the girl. _She_ mutely glanced at him in acknowledgement, a look that Bakugo found himself envious, as she accepted his gift. He fumed at the sight.

Deku told her to open it. And when she did and ripped off the wrapper, a card slip-out to the ground.

She got the number two hero, Endeavor.

 _ **(—6. 7. 8. Initiating.—)**_

After that day, _she_ no longer appeared. The next day after another, her presence had slowly disappeared in their group, almost forgotten in their memory, except for the two. Bakugo, again for the first time of his life, became worried, wondering where _she_ was. Almost automatically, he side-glanced at Deku. Compared to him—

—Deku looked devastated.

Bakugo felt himself resigned at Deku's expression. As if all his anger had dissipated in his very being. He can't bring himself to question what the nature of their relationship was. Instead, he was stuck on single fact.

 _She's gone._

As days, weeks, and months went by. _Her_ presence had completely disappeared as four friends continued on with their young lives.

But not until she appeared once again a year later.

Bakugo tried to hide his glee of joy when they finally met agai—

 _ **(—3. 4. 7. Shift.—)**_

Bakugo glared, cursed and spat at her. This _girl_ in front of him is not the girl same girl a year ago. _This_ girl was wicked, vicious and cruel. She suddenly appeared right in front of them in the middle of their play, successfully ruining their game.

 _"Hello, everyone...!"_ He remembered the pink-haired _**d—v—l**_ greeting them. _"It's been a while, isn't it? Don't worry! I'm here for our reconciliation by giving you all a curse from dearest me!"_

He was distraught, confused at her words. Reconciliation? Curse? What the heck is this knock-off image of the _girl_ he knows a year ago talking about? Bakugo stopped his train of thought. Knock-off image...? That's right...! This is not _her._ This is not the _girl_ he knows. _This is definitely not_ her.

His mind searched for an alternative. Something, someone, someway that doesn't relate to the girl he knows that he tried so hard to get her attention a year ago. This can't be her. This is definitely not her. There's no way it can be her…!

Something clicked in his head. That's right. That's right…! This person right in front of them is villain! The type of villain who screw the mind of their victims. He laughed, a piece of puzzle lining up in his head. Yes, this is a _villain_ who just attacked them!

With a fierce adrenaline running in his blood, he stood defiantly at _**p—k-h—red**_ demon. "Shut-up, you ugly villain. You are not my friend. You are not _her._ If you are here just break us, you've got the wrong idea!" He pulled a defensive stance in front of his two friends with his Quirk flickering like fireworks in his hand. "As a hero, I will defeat you!"

 _Yes, just like All Might. Like how he defeated those villains effortlessly._

The pink-haired blinked at him for a while before **–-** laughed obnoxiously.

For a split-second, Bakugo was convinced that it was actually _her._

"You want to become a hero?" _**Sh—**_ gave him a mocking laugh. "With a Quirk like that, you think they would acknowledge you as a hero?"

Without Deku around this time, he stood devastated.

With the combination of _her_ face, the mocking tone directed at him, and those words...

Those _goddamn_ words...!

Hearing those words, he felt his whole world crumbling. But those words wasn't the one that struck him the most. It was after.

 _"Izuku was a better hero than you."_

He stood, frozen in front of her. In his hazy vision, _she_ stared at him, blinking at his shell-shocked expression. She took a quick peek at his shoulder, seeing that his friends had already fainted behind him. With a disappointed sigh, she started to walk away.

 _"You're not getting away, you—"_

 _She_ cursed under breath as she ran away, her small figure distorting.

 _ **(—1. 8. 3. End [Completion]—)**_

Bakugo, in his case, had come to greet the cruelty of reality. Still standing frozen, everything went by in a blur. He became out of touch from the reality as _her_ words continued to echo in his head, haunting him in every second.

 _Izuku was a better hero than you._

He blinked.

 _Izuku was a better hero than you._

He blinked twice.

 _Izuku was a better hero than you._

He blinked three times.

 _Izuku was a better hero than you._

He owlishly blinked rapidly, as an epiphany came to him.

 _Deku..._ of course, it was Deku. He laughed bitterly. Of course it would be _goddamn_ him.

The nature of _their_ relationship, the atmosphere between _them_ , the attention _she_ gave to him, _of course it would him._

With his disjointed emotions started to influence his rationality, he knew what he had to do. What he should do and what he will do. Emotions swirling in chest calmly, he waited to be released from the police in the interrogation room, not even fazed how he ended up there in the first place before he was finally released.

Bakugo walked towards his destination; nowhere. It was already afternoon with the sunset illuminating his glazed eyes. Not having enough time to relish the fresh wind caressing his form, his mind was haunted by the image of a pink-haired intruder who gave him words of cruelty.

He gritted his teeth in anger. Unforgivable. Absolutely unforgivable. He clenched his fist, turning his knuckles deceptively white. _Izuku was a better hero than him...? Who is she to dare judge him whether_ _ **he**_ _was a better than him? Fucking unforgivable!_ His thoughts found itself cursing at _**h—.**_

 _I'll fucking kill you when I meet you again, you meddling cat._

The image of a young boy walking calmly at the side road would probably not think that he was thinking the murder and cursing. To others, he was just one of the kids who is walking towards to his destination to play with his friends. Expecting to act like his age.

 _Unfortunately, he wasn't._

In his mind, he cursed a certain _girl_ , the memory of a hollow silent girl that he first met became smudged, and blurring her image as the picture replaced into a pink-haired demon he met during that day, turning her into his sworn enemy who rejected his dreams.

In his mind, he thought of a certain green-haired boy.

 _Deku..._

With an idea in his head, let's just say that Deku experienced his _explosive_ anger as he challenged him to a fight.

 _A rather unfair fight._

* * *

Bakugo looked down at _her_ , silently inspecting her appearance. Pink-hair, cat ears and petite form. His jaw clenched at the memory of a pink-hair demon that somehow got buried among his memories as he automatically projected _her_ into this girl in front of him.

 _No, she's too different._ He tried to convince himself. He noted the glasses, her expressive face, _her smiles_ —everything is too different, too good to be true that the girl in his memory is the same girl whom he tried to fight in the past.

He clicked his tongue angrily. He's letting the nostalgia cloud his judgement. Of course, she's different. That was all in the past. And all those things in the past should not be brought up in the present. The past is supposed to be time line that he should move on.

 _No._ His inner side of him defied. _Don't forget your grudge._ It tempted.

He huffed. _That's right, his... grudge..._ Somehow, he can't bring himself to convince about it. _The grudge..._ every time he thought about it, he wondered why his _encounter_ with her in the past felt out of place—it was a raw memory yet too shallow. He still does have the grudge because of it but its different kind of grudge (or anger to be accurate). And also somehow...

 _His encounter with her in the past felt too artificial._

He stared down at her, his emotions reflecting his eyes that appeared too calm. He saw her looking up at him uncomfortably while her back is still connected at the wall as she gulped.

He found himself blinking. Why the heck is he following her anyway? After he saw her leaving the classroom without a word, he found himself following after her and walked behind her in a safe distance. Few minutes after their walk, she suddenly changed her direction with a determined yet nervous look as she briskly walked to her destination.

Bakugo got confused at her sudden change of course but still followed her nonetheless.

One minute, he followed her. Two minutes after, he stalked after her. Five minutes in, Bakugo finally realized.

She got lost.

He stared at her back in disbelief as her expression shifted into a panicked look. Unable to believe at his decision to follow her, he seethed.

 _"Are you fucking lost?"_

And her back was pinned at the wall.

He snapped out of his trance when he saw her shifted in front of him. It only gave him a split second realizing her intention. She's trying to run away from him. Angered by her intent to run away, he pushed his fist beside her head, forcibly stopping her advance to sneak away.

"Don't you dare..."His temper flared, pinning the girl to the wall once again.

"I-I already answered you. What do you want?" She shakily answered him, looking everywhere but him.

Her reaction disoriented him a bit, his nostalgia and his grudge most likely the cause of it. She's _way_ too different to be the same girl, he thought. She's too reactive, get nervous easily and talks too much to others compared to _her_ , he harshly insinuated.

He frowned. _There's no way that this girl is_ her _._

Temporarily lessening his temper, he shoved his fist in his pockets. "Well you're lost, right? Do you even know where to go from here?"

Her eyes widened in realization. "Oh."

He let out a sigh in disbelief, unable to believe that he followed her without any reason this far in the building.

"So, you'll help me?"

He rolled his eyes. "What, you don't want it?"

She scowled angrily at him. "Of course, I want it! I have to go to the nurse's office to see Midoriya-kun before I go to the principal's office."

He felt his temper flared once again at the mention of _his_ name before he frowned. _Principal's office?_

"What's your business at the principal's office?" he asked almost accusingly.

She sighed. "Aizawa-sensei told me to. I don't know why."

"Oh, I see." He started to walk ahead from her, not caring if she's following him or not.

"Hey, wait!" He heard hurried steps going after him. "Are we going to the nurse's office?" He heard her asking.

"No." He grumbled. "I'm going to the comfort room to pee."

She gasped, her footsteps stopped following behind him. "T-then, see you tomorrow, I guess..." There was a pause. "Wait, I thought you're going to help me?!"

"I changed my mind. You're on your own."

He heard her growled in frustration but still followed him nonetheless. His eyebrow twitched at this but he didn't say a word about it. After a few minutes of walking, he suddenly stopped in front of a door.

"Here it is. The nurse's office."

She gave him a surprised look. "I thought you changed your mind?"

"I _changed_ my mind." _Though, he mostly did it so that she would stop following him._

She deadpanned. "There must be something wrong with your head if you keep changing your mind."

"Whatever." He mumbled, rolling his eyes as he started to walk away from her.

 _"Thank you!"_ He heard her calling at him. He clicked his tongue.

 _Yeah, yeah, you're welcome, I guess..._

* * *

 _What a weird encounter..._ Hayami waved after Bakugo before he turned into a corner. _At least, he didn't kill me back there..._ she sighed in relief before she opened the door.

"Pardon for the intrusion." She respectfully closed the door behind her.

"Ah, what is it, my dear? Are you sick?" A short elderly woman approached her, examining her body carefully.

"Uh, no, I'm not. Actually, I'm here for Midoriya Izuku..."

"Ah, him," her eyes lit up in recognition. "He already left a few minutes ago."

"Oh..." _Well, she already expected that anyway when she took her time with Bakugo._ "I see. Thank you very much. Ah!" She gasped in remembrance. "Is it okay for me to ask you for directions?"

"Of course, dear. Where to?"

"To principal's office."

The elderly's face wrinkled in curiosity but she didn't probed her about it as she told her the directions to the Principal's office. She bowed in gratitude to the elderly nurse before she closed the door. Following the advice of the elderly around the school, it took her a while to walk around while making herself familiarize of the hallway so that she won't get lost in the future before she finally arrived at the Principal's office.

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she grasped the doorknob and opened the door.

"Ah, took you a while to arrive, Hayami-san," a smooth voice greeted her. "Your companion was about to leave if you arrived a little later."

She entered the vacant office, briskly walking towards the table and sat in the chair that was put parallel to the Principal's table.

"Good afternoon, Hayami-san." Someone greeted beside her. She blinked at the familiar face.

"Good afternoon, Yamabiko-san." She greeted back with a smile to her former seatmate, now schoolmate.

 _Yamabiko Nui._

* * *

 **For some clarification, "aesthetically lady" from Aoyama words... uh, you'll get the explanation in the following chapters, probably. And also, that flashback scene where Hayami got Endeavor's card, it wasn't supposed to be him, it was supposed to be a certain winged hero in the manga but then I realized that he's still too young to be a hero so I changed it. (It was supposed to an easter egg/foreshadowing for Hayami's true identity/development so I guess I butchered it lol).**

 **And that Bakugo/Hayami scene+flashback, I'm actually worried when I started to write it. I really hoped that Bakugo wasn't too OOC and I edited that scene few times that it kinda fried my brain.**

 **(My original plan in that scene was actually violent and emotional but when I started write it, the scene wrote itself and the flashback just came out of nowhere and produced an unnerving calm-ish Bakugo).**

 **Oh, have I mention you all before that I will be making an MHA AU Fanfic? I think I didn't so I will tell you. That's right, I am making one! It is based on the second ED from season 2 with my own twist on it so its probably more medieval than fantasy. Hayami still appears there but not as prominent as this story (Gallant is about her story, after all).**

 **For a sneak peak, here's what I offer from the introduction/prologue:**

 _It is truly their wonderful experimental world. They were proud of its creation as they witness the matters of men developed themselves into improvement. They were grateful of it that they left this world in joy and went to their other experiments._

 _Not all of them._

 _Few gods chose to the stay at the new creation. Fairly attached to its development as they continue to witness the matters of men. The existed and watched the **[God of Miracle]** continue to mingle at the humanity as they continue to grow._

 _But, the more they watched the god, the more they are racked with jealousy. Their laughs and sadness, betrayal and trust and promises and lies, all of it they wanted experience themselves. Without question, they humbled themselves and bowed down to mingle with humanity for the sake of satisfaction and curiosity._

 _And they fell in love._

 _They loved how innovative humanity is. Their creativity and their ambitions, all of it was fascinating to the fallen gods. The diversity, the colors, especially their personality—as humanity called it—they fell in love with the concept of it._

 _Truly, they fell in love._

 _But…_

 _Receiving the affections of collective gods is not always a great concept._

 **That's all I can give to you! The prologue is not done yet and when it is, I'll post it here and Wattpad (and possibly in AO3).**

 **I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Leave a review for your thoughts and/or feedback!**

 _ **Advance Merry Christmas everyone and see ya next chapter!**_


	4. Rival

" _Remember, there are times that heroes and villains coincidentally had the same mentality. They are called anti-hero or anti-villain. Anti-hero, anti-villain… in order to make strategies against your enemy, sometimes you have to be merciless. That's why, before you battle against them—depending whose your enemy—sometimes you have to think like a villain._

 _I am not telling you to_ become _a villain yourself, I am telling you that at times, you have to think a scenario that was either good or bad—as long as it is beneficial to your side. The mentality of duality. That's why, remember Eshima-kun, not all good people are always good—or bad people are always bad. It all depends on the circumstances._

 _Remember that we are humans._

 _Just humans."_

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Rival  
**

 _Life is a competition not with others, but with ourselves. We should seek each day to live stronger, better, truer lives; each day to master some weakness of yesterday; each day to repair a mistake; each day to surpass ourselves. **  
**_

 _(David B. Haight)_

* * *

Midoriya Izuku walked beside his newfound friends.

After he was healed by the courtesy of Recovery Girl earlier, he originally wanted to go home with Hayami. But when he realized that her school bag was no longer in her seat, he walked away in disappointment, thinking that she had left him without any indication.

But that cloud of dismay disappeared when he met the earnest Iida and the girl whom he saved back at the practical exam, Uraraka Ochaco. Their presence slightly improved his mood, even if just a bit.

But still… Shiichan is not here…

He sighed.

"What's wrong, Midoriya-kun? You've been sighing for a while now." Iida's voice reached his ears, startling him.

"Ah…! It's nothing, Iida-kun!" he exclaimed, surprised that they noticed his depressing mood.

"Really? You have this _look_ earlier." Uraraka _perfectly_ reflected his gloomy face as she made a face.

Midoriya would have laughed if only it wasn't him she was imitating.

"It's nothing, really." He tried to lessen their worry. He gave them a small smile. "It's just—"

He wasn't able to finish his sentence when his phone vibrated in his side. He reached the phone from his pocket, tapping it and saw the text from Shiichan.

 _ **Sorry if I wasn't able to go with you. Got called to principal's office.**_

The first thing he did was breathe out in relief. So she didn't forgot about him. Well, at least, he knew the reason why they won't be able to go home together.

"Who's that?" The brunette tried to peek at his phone.

"Ah!" He immediately recoiled from her at the close proximity. "I-it's from my friend. Shiichan said we won't be able to home together."

"Shiichan?" Iida arched an eyebrow.

"Hayami Eshima. M-my friend and our classmate."

"Ah, the cat-eared girl! So you're friends with her! Can you please introduce me to her? She's really cute!"

Midoriya found himself leaning back at the bubbly-face, her eyes lighting up like stars. He tried to calm his fast beating heart at the close proximity they had with each other.

"Hayami-kun, huh? As I noticed earlier, she was pretty laid-back during the test." Iida shook his head disapprovingly. "Unbelievable. Was she even worried that she'll get expelled? Even though it was just a farce…"

The green-haired wanted to turn his attention to him but the girl was still hogging his attention. Her expectant smile was too much to not ignore.

He nodded dumbly. "S-sure! I-I can introduce you to her."

Uraraka cheered. "Yay! One more friend, the better!"

He let out a wry laugh when the brunette stepped back from him. Seriously, if she was closer, he would probably combust and faint on the spot.

 _Friend, huh_? He mused, walking beside his friends. _I don't know if she'll like it but just like Uraraka-san said—the more, the better._

Three friends walked towards their home, looking forward to the brand new tomorrow as they animated talked to each other.

* * *

 **NEXT DAY – MORNING CLASS**

Hayami sat dazed during class.

Present Mic's voice was almost nonexistent in her mind as he continued babbling something in English, which is the subject he's currently teaching to the class. _Normal_ subjects was pretty unexpected to her since U.A. was revered as one of the best hero schools.

Well, if it's only hero-related classes, this school would be called brawling school rather than hero school.

She repeatedly tapped her pen to her open notes, her chin resting at her open palm with her elbow resting at the table. The subject that the pro-hero was teaching was something that she already learned—quite simple topic actually. If only she didn't went to a high standard junior high, she wouldn't have known this.

Oh, speaking of school…

She never really told Yao-momo what school she formerly went.

"Yao-momo." She discreetly whispered, careful not to get caught. "I've never told you about my junior high, right?"

Yaoyorozo turned her head, looking behind where Hayami was seated. "You didn't. And also, _be quiet,_ Eshima-san. We're currently in class—"

"I went to Cantila."

The black-haired girl softly gasped. "That _almost_ isolated school…?"

 _Okay, that was a bit low blow._ She flinched at the truth of her words as she nodded. Cantila is a high-standard small private school at the corner of the city. The reason why it was _almost_ isolated is because… well, it's high-standard yet they are the only school who accepts 'troublemakers' (read: drop-outs) and of course, overprotective parents are overprotective so they stay away from the school for that reason.

In her case, she doesn't mind the 'troublemakers' in her class. They were rather entertaining and it's like the gathering of school clowns in one place and observing them was very enjoyable for her.

Basically, on the surface, Cantila may appear a shitty school for accepting shitty students but to her, they're probably the most laid-back and open-minded school she'd ever attended in her whole life.

And speaking about her school, she remembered the principal's words…

" _I'm sure the two of you must be wondering why you are called in my office…" the tiny principal gave them a stare. "And I assure you that it's not because you did something wrong."_

 _The two students relaxed on their seat._

" _I called you here because… as I read on your profiles that you two went to_ that _school." The principal paused to inspect their faces. "The Cantila Academy, one of the most prestigious yet not well-received by the masses. But according to some sources, the school has produced lot of successful women and men in the business world."_

"… _what are you trying say, Mr. Principal?" The equally smooth voice of Yamabiko Nui inquired._

 _The intelligent creature smiled. "Just a simple curiosity. Cantila Academy, despite what people says, from what I heard from reliable sources that they are the best school of this time. Not the greatest, but the best."_

 _Both students looked at each other._

" _What I'm trying to say,_ why did choose U.A. of all schools? _Cantila Academy is a producer of business men and women and yet, here you are in this school, trying to become a hero."_

" _Are you questioning our reason why we wanted to become a hero?"_

" _I didn't mean to sound hostile but yes, like I said, it's just a simple curiosity." The rodent principal put his hands at his table, fingers(?) joining together. "Tell me, why did you want to become a hero?"_

 _Two students appeared silent for a while before Yamabiko answered._

" _I... wanted to become one because the sense of adventure it creates. Saving people while in pinch, from my perspective, makes it exciting."_

 _The pink-haired looked at her companion in surprise. She never really thought that her silent genius of her (former) school had thoughts like that._

 _The principal hummed. "Anything else?"_

" _Anything else…?" The light-haired boy looked away his dark eyes from the principal as if hesitantly before he sighed in defeat. "In all honesty, the significant factor of it is because I wanted money too."_

" _Is that all?"_

" _That's all."_

" _Why?"_

"… _debt."_

 _Student and principal stared each other for a while before principal inclined his head in thanks and gestured him to settle down. He turned his attention to the pink-haired girl beside the boy._

" _What about you, Hayami Eshima? What is your reason?"_

 _Hayami found herself stiffened at the attention from both. She can't exactly lie to the principal and she had no reason to lie either way. The reason why she was hesitant because it's her opening up—talking her thoughts to a stranger who held an authority of the school. And that doesn't sit still with her._

 _But still, she wanted to answer._

 _Because all she had is her honesty._

"… _it's just like yours, Principal Nedzu, it's a simple curiosity."_

 _The principal made a face of interest, if it was possible. "Elaborate."_

" _Curiosity regarding about heroes, Principal Nedzu."_

 _The principal stared at her expectantly to continue, making her sigh in defeat._

" _Heroes are everywhere, Mr. Principal. They're always running left and right to save the distress." She paused to collect her words. "The reason of my curiosity is because I wanted to find out the passion behind it. Why do people still want to become a hero when they are already heroes around us? I mean, isn't it… enough?"_

" _Technically, just like Mr. Yamabiko wanted to, being a hero is a job, Hayami-san. The government accepted it as one."_

 _The girl hesitated. "I'm aware of that."_

It's not just because of my curiosity, it's also because I wanted to challenge myself. _She inwardly added but she felt that it's not necessary to say anymore because saying those words felt too intimate and a invasion of privacy._

" _Hmm." The principal hummed in thought. "I see. Yamabiko-san… because of money and Hayami-san because of curiosity. I see…" He looked up to them. "Most of it was exactly within my expectation." He glanced at the girl. "Except for the curiosity part. Anyway, students, would you two like some cup of tea?"_

 _Both of them seemed to be startled at the sudden change of subject but they politely declined his offer._

" _I see. I hope that I didn't scare with you with the sudden call to the principal' office. My apologies."_

 _Hayami chuckled how true his words was and Yamabiko looked amused._

" _I'm sorry if I wasted your time. I'm sure one of you has part-time job, right?"_

 _Yamabiko stiffened._

" _Don't worry about it. We don't restrict students having part-time jobs."_

 _He sighed in relief._

 _Hayami and Yamabiko bowed in farewell to the principal as they both step outside the office. No words were exchanged between the two as they both walked in silence._

 _Until they reached the gate._

" _Eshima-san."_

 _Hayami got startled at the sudden voice at the silence as she turned at him._

 _And she didn't expect to meet a faint smile from him._

" _You've changed."_

 _And then, they parted ways to their destination._

Since yesterday, Hayami still doesn't know the meaning behind it. _You've changed._ She recalled his words, spinning her pen in boredom. Well, they had been classmates for like, a year, so Yamabiko probably partially and indirectly oversaw her development during those months.

 _Oh, yeah, those hell months…_

 **RING!**

She jolted at her seat at the sudden ringing of the school bell. She heard her classmates sighing in relief that their English class has finally ended for the day, slumping to their table. While in her case, she was covering her ears from the ringing until it ended.

The class bowed in farewell at Present Mic before they cleared away from the classroom for lunch as Hayami followed them, running towards the canteen.

Not noticing a stare from heterochromatic eyes in the distance.

* * *

Hayami gave Lunch Rush a smile of thanks as he handed her the ordered lunch before she left the line. She carried the tray with her, walking around for any vacant seats around the canteen or search someone she knows and sit with them.

" _Hayami."_

She jerked in surprise, nearly dropping her tray when she heard a voice behind her. She carefully looked behind her, seeing a heterochromatic eyes peering at her.

"Y-yes…?" She smiled hesitantly, trying to put away his unnerving stare from her.

"…I heard that you went to Cantila?"

At first, she gave him a confused look before her eyes lit up.

 _Oh right, he was sitting right beside Yao-momo. He must have overheard our conversation._

"Yes, um… what about it?" She nervously responding while distracting herself as she looked around for any vacant seats.

"Are you familiar with Todoroki Fuyumi?"

She furrowed her eyebrows in thought. _Todoroki Fuyumi…_ _That's kinda familiar._ She frowned as she tried digging her mind for information. _Todoroki… Todoroki… Ms. Todoroki…_

 _Ah._ She widened in recognition.

That's right, the elementary teacher.

No wonder his name was familiar.

"Yeah, kind of." She nodded before she tilted her head. "Are you… related?"

He blinked at her before nodding. "Ah."

She nodded in understanding before she saw some vacant seat in the corner. She turned to him.

"Sit with me?" She gestured at the free seats, inviting him before she widened her eyes when she saw him giving her a look. "No, no, not like that! The canteen is packed and I'm sure there's no longer seats available!"

Todoroki seemed to be contemplating a bit before he gave her a reluctant nod. "Ah."

She smiled at his response before they walked together at the vacant seats. Both of them settled down to it as they put the tray at the table and positioned themselves at their seats, facing each other. They both silently break the chopsticks as they joined their hands together and said 'itadakimasu' under their breath.

They savor their food in silence as Hayami took a bite of her _Donburi_. A silent company is always good company, she inwardly nodded to herself in approval and noted that Todoroki seems to be not the type of person who is interested in talking while eating. She glanced at his way involuntarily, just in time seeing him slurping his _Soba_ rigorously.

She almost choked herself at the sight.

"…? Is something wrong?"

She wanted to giggle so badly at him because of the Soba noddle hanging at the corner of his lips, which gave him an uncharacteristic sight to her. Instead, she grabbed her juice and drank almost everything in it, putting it away when she was done. She gave him a strained smile in the effort to hide her giggle.

"You have… something…" She pointed her lips, hinting the noddle hanging in his lips. Todoroki furrowed his eyebrows as he lifted his hand to his mouth. When he finally grabbed the hanging noddle, he put it away from his mouth and glanced at her.

She respectfully looked away from him, continuing to eat her lunch as she saw him discreetly eat the hanging noodle when he thought she wasn't looking. She inwardly shook her head. _He really loved his Soba, isn't he?_

In the corner of her eyes, she saw Midoriya looking at her from three seats away, opposite from her. When she caught his glance, she waved at him as she gave him an apologetic smile that they weren't able to eat lunch together.

He smiled at her in return before he got distracted and animatedly talked with Iida and Uraraka. Hayami arched an eyebrow at this. _Oh, it seems like he gained some friends…_

 _Compared to her._

"Do you know him?"

She snapped her attention to Todoroki, seeing him looking at Midoriya. "Yeah. He's…" She smiled wistfully to herself. "A friend."

She didn't noticed the look that Todoroki shot at her as she continued eating her lunch in silence.

* * *

Midoriya kept glancing at Shiichan's table, a bit dejected that they didn't eat their lunch together. He also noted to himself that _this_ Shiichan was certainly different than what he remembered. He had already scolded himself many times that _this_ Shiichan is already different, but still… his heart rejected the idea.

 _Somehow, he can't trust her._

Was it because she was different? The silent Shiichan that he knows in his past was no longer there?

 _Or was it because of his nostalgia kept clinging to the idea of her past self?_

 _There you go again, Izuku…_ he found himself comparing her _again_. _Why are you being like this? She just changed, not replaced._

Inwardly hitting himself in the head for his stupidity, he continued to eat his lunch as he listened to the animated conversation between his newfound friends.

 _Friends…_

Oh, right. He had to introduce them to Shiichan later when they had time.

* * *

The school bell rang at the end of lunch time. Hayami had already sat in her seat in the classroom since she was already eating earlier and waited for their next teacher. Rhythmically drumming her fingers at the table, she noticed someone approaching her.

"Hello, there! Name's Ashido Mina! I hope we can become friends!" Ashido bubbly greeted her with a smile. She found herself smiling in return.

"Hello, I'm Hayami Eshima."

"Hey there! I'm Mineta Minoru, pleased to meet you!"

Hayami looked around in confusion. _Where did that came from?_

"I'm right here!" A voice resounded below the side of her table. She stretching her neck as she peered down and she saw… purple balls?

"Ignore him. He's just a pervert." Ashido leaned down to whisper her, which she automatically jolted away. Ashido gave her an apologetic smile when she saw this. "Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to invade your space! When we first met, you must have not liked it in our first meeting, right?"

Hayami raised an eyebrow in thought and then remembered. _Right, she was the one who hugged me._

"Yeah, I recommended to not do that again without warning." She bluntly advised.

Ashido made a cringing smile. "Yeah, I'm sorry. Ah!" She suddenly perked up. "'without warning'? Does that I can hug you as long as I have permission?"

The cat-eared girl contemplated. "Not really…?"

The pinkette only gave her toothy grin. "No promises."

Hayami suddenly felt uneasy. _What does she mean by that?_

"Hello…? Did someone forget about me—"

" _ **I AM…"**_

Silence suddenly overtook the classroom when they heard a familiar voice outside the door.

" _ **COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"**_

Almost— _almost_ everyone made a sound in awe, gaping at the new arrival of All Might who… definitely did not came through the door like a normal person.

"Wow, he really _is_ a teacher!"

"That's the costume from Silver Age, right?"

Everyone— _almost_ everyone geek out at the sight of the Number One Hero striding in the classroom with his wide unfaltering smile on his face. He is wearing his old costume of skin-tight body suit that consist of the colors of red, blue and yellow with white large circle on his chest and his billowing blue cape trailing behind him.

With this sight, this is the first time Hayami saw him in person wearing that suit and she realized how freaking _muscular_ All Might is. _A freak of nature,_ she thought and wondered how did she missed it in their first meeting.

"Settle down, everyone. And also, please take a seat." He paused for a while as her classmates ran to their seats. "I am here to teach you all Hero Basic Training. It is a subject where you train in different ways to learn the basics of being a hero. You'll take the most units of this subject!" He promptly advised the last part. "All right, let's get right to it! This is what we'll do today…" He enthusiastically held up a flash card. "Combat training!"

Hayami almost immediately thought _oh shit_ in her head. _U.A. never rest, aren't they?_ And it was straight to the point too. And also there was no explanation about hero basic training too.

All practical.

"And to go with that are these!" All Might pointed the wall where automatic vertical drawers opening itself, revealing rows of briefcases with assigned numbers on it. "Costumes made based on your Quirk registrations and requests you sent in before school started. After you change, gather in Ground Beta!"

This time, she muttered _oh shit_ under her breath after the hero said those words. Regarding about her costume, it was her aunt who did most of the work and drew the concept of it (which her aunt refused to show her).

Her overall involvement to it is just her aunt asking her opinions.

Like:

 _Sexy?_

No.

 _Skimpy?_

Please don't.

 _Uh, skin-tight?_

Dear god, no.

 _So… comfortable?_

YES.

Those are the type of question that her aunt asked regarding about her hero costume. And up to this day, she still didn't know what it looks like.

But there's one concern that she's looking forward to. It was about—

 _Glasses or contact lens?_

She remembered her aunt asking her. She didn't exactly answered her about it and her aunt kinda took care of it on her own so she's a bit worried.

 _I guess, let's find out,_ she thought as she grabbed her briefcase and followed her classmates to the changing room.

* * *

 _It was contact lens, alright._

She even had to reach out Yao-momo to help her put on contact lens because of her constant trembling of her fingers, afraid that she might not properly put it on. Well, all in honesty, the contact lens was the _least_ of her concern, it was her hero costume she was _most_ worried about.

 _And thank god, it wasn't like she thought._

She literally (and visibly) exhaled in relief when she first saw what was inside her briefcase. Gingerly putting on her costume (because she's shy about her body being seen by other girls), she first put on the zip-up leotard which the color was divided horizontally; light blue in the upper and white in the lower as she zips it up. Next one is the dark skort (shorts that looked like a skirt) and she was glad it was flexible and stretchable for versatility. After she put on the light-colored stocking, she was surprised to discover that her below-knee midnight blue boots was soft when she put it as she walked around to test out its comfortable-ness.

She nodded in approval. _Not bad._

After she was done at the lower part of her costume, she put on the sky blue crop top jacket that has puffed sleeves on it as she zipped it up with a loud buzz. Glancing at the remaining components of her costume, she saw a fingerless gloves resting in it and something black that she doesn't recognize. She lift it up to her eye-level, carefully inspecting it.

 _It looks like a sleeve of some sort? And there's even two of them!_

Yao-momo later approached her and said that it was sleeve compression thing, used to protect the skin and circulate blood flow quickly to the heart, which helps the injuries to heal quicker. She looked at it in astonishment as Yao-momo also noted it was frequently used by the athletes to regulate their body temperature. She got even more impressed.

After she put on her costume, she bend her arm to test the sleeve compression that was tightly wrapped to her arms. She still not used to its tightness but it is a guarantee that she will get used to it. She also realized that her stockings was actually the same as the sleeve compression, in term of its tightness.

Being the only last resident left in the changing room, she opened the door and closed it behind her only to see Yao-momo waiting for her.

"Shall we go, Eshima-san?" Yao-momo trailed her eyes to Hayami's _modest_ costume compared to her, which consist of red leotard with an open slit between her breasts. And also, there's a large yellow belt circled around her hips.

She nodded at her. "Yes, let's go."

"Wow! You got a really cool costume, Eshima-san!"

Hayami did a double take when Ashido suddenly appeared out of nowhere. With a quick glance to her, Ashido's hero costume seems to consist of camouflage patterned bodysuit and tan vest with white fur on the collar. Pretty simple, but not something she wanted.

"Um, thanks?" She replied awkwardly, trying to scratch her head but end up caressing it because she doesn't want to ruin her hairstyle which she put an _outmost_ effort compared to her costume as she pulled her hair up into a braided updo (and lots of hairpins on the sides) with a small braid resting on her shoulder.

Ashido vigorously nodded with a large smile. "You're really, _really_ cool, you know? Despite your cute appearance." For some reason, Hayami took offense at her remark. "Anyway, shall we go now?"

After linking her arms to Hayami, they walked side-by-side while half-dragging the poor girl with her as Yao-momo only sighed at them before she followed them.

When they arrived, they were greeted at the sight of diverse costumes of their classmates who turned their heads to them. Hayami immediately stiffened at the amount of attention.

"Oh, Ashido, what a nice costume you got there!"

"Thanks, Kaminari!"

"Yaoyorozo, what a _nice_ costume you got the—"Mineta was silenced immediately.

"Oh, you're Hayami Eshima, right?" The blonde-haired boy, which Ashido called Kaminari walked towards her. "I'm Kaminari Denki, nice to meet ya! Anyway, you got some _cool_ costume. Did you design it?"

Finally gaining some courage, she shook her head.

"Huh? Then, who did?"

"M-m-my…" Before she can finish, she got distracted from him as she noticed something green approaching them. As it neared, she noticed the green jumpsuit and rabbit-eared (though it looks familiar…) mask and noticeable red shoes. Just from that, she immediately knew it was Midoriya.

"Hayami?" She jolted back her attention to Kaminari. She realized that she hasn't answered him yet.

"Oh, um, it was my aunt who designed it. Anyway, it was nice to meet you."

She half-heartedly bowed in dismissal at Kaminari as she started walking towards Midoriya.

"Midoriya-kun!"

"Deku-kun!"

Both girls stopped in tracks as they looked at each other.

Hayami blinked in confusion at the nickname that the brunette used to call Midoriya. _Isn't that Bakugo's nickname for him?_

"Ah, _Shiichan_ person!" Uraraka waved her hands in panic when she saw Hayami's piercing stare. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Deku-kun called you that so I just can't help it!"

The pinkette frowned. _Why is this girl calling Midoriya 'Deku-kun'? I thought only Bakugo is the only one allowed to call him that…_

"Anyway, I'm Uraraka Ochaco," the bubbly girl introduced herself. "Your name is Hayami Eshima, right? Nice to meet you!"

Hayami could only stare in bewilderment at the energetic girl who clasped their hands together. _How the heck this girl did knew her name?_ Well, considering that they did the Quirk comprehension test yesterday, but still… she's not used to it. Being greeted and all, compared to her former school where personal information was obtained second-handedly.

"Is everyone already here?" All Might called to them before he nodded. "Alright, listen well, students. There is a saying that clothes make the man, young men and ladies. Be fully aware that from now on, you are _heroes!_ " He nodded in approval in every costume, diverse and colorful dress, suits and armor he sees within his sight. "That's great, everyone. You all look so cool!" All Might's ever present grin widened in a fraction. "Now, shall we begin, you zygotes!"

Hayami was taken back. Zygote? Well, metaphorically, it makes sense since they are students training to become a hero and they are still not 'released' in the reality of responsibility of being a hero. But in literal sense, that is kinda… where they heck All Might adapt that term anyway?

After that, All Might explained their activity for the day; which is the combat training. When Iida voiced out his concern whether they will be having an urban training just like the entrance exam, All Might refuted that they are moving beyond that.

"Most of the time, fighting villains takes place outside but if you look at the total numbers, atrocious villains appear indoors at a higher rate. Imprisonment, house arrest, backroom deals… In this society filled with heroes, intelligent villains hide in the shadows!"

For some reason, Hayami was inwardly cringed at those words. She doesn't know why she was feeling like this… perhaps because she was villain before? She silently laughed at the ridiculous thought.

All Might further explained that they are having a 2-on-2 indoor battles, splitting the students into hero teams and villain teams. No faux villain involved in this exercise, which Hayami was grateful about. But still, there's something she's worried about…

Since there are 21 of them in this exercise, what does the odd one do?

"How will wins and losses be determined?"

"Can we beat them up anyway?"

"Will the punishment be expulsion like with Aizawa-sensei?"

"How shall we be split up?"

"Isn't this cape crazy?"

…and it seems like she's not the only concerned about this exercise.

 _Probably except the last one._

All Might answered those question with everything he got (with the help of his script). It seems like the scenario of this exercise is where the heroes are trying to dispose a nuclear weapon hidden by the villain in their hideout. The heroes need to capture the villain or retrieved the weapon during the limited time and the villain's role is to protect the said weapon or capture the heroes. All in all, the scenario is very cliché at best.

And regarding about splitting up, it is determined by drawing lots.

In other words, partners are chosen randomly.

And she got [ **S** ].

Hayami stared at the ball in her hand, [ **S** ] was written on it. Looking over her classmates who seemed to be perfectly matched each other, smiling at their partners—she realized that she was an odd one out. Confused at her situation, she walked towards All Might.

"All-Might-san, I mean, sensei…" She held out the ball to him. "What… does this [ **S** ] mean?"

"Hmm…" He only took it from her. "I'll explain it to you later."

She frowned at him before she nodded. "Okay…"

The lecture moved on with further ado. Hayami could only listen to All Might without complaints since she had no idea what to do in this exercise. Does she even have a partner? What faction is she anyway? Villain? Hero? She doesn't know.

"The first teams will be…" He put his hands inside both box lottery that was marked 'Hero' on his left and 'Villain' in his right, "these guys!"

 _ **Black [D] and White [A].**_

 _Oh!_ _Isn't that Bakugo and Midoriya-kun's team?_ Hayami thought in disbelief.

After that, All Might advised everyone to head towards the monitor room except for teams that was called. As her classmates promptly walked towards the room, she intently strolled to Midoriya as she squeezed his shoulder in reassurance before she followed her classmates. She involuntarily gave Bakugo a stare as she walked into the monitor room.

"Take this, Hayami-kun." All Might suddenly appeared out of nowhere, nudging his closed hand to her.

She offered her hand as she felt something cold falling to her hand. It was an earpiece.

"What should I do with this?" She stared at All Might in disbelief.

"It's related to your exercise." He explained. "And also, don't tell your classmates about it." He hurriedly added.

 _O…kay…_ It was related to her exercise, he says… maybe because of the [ **S** ] team she got earlier?

Before she could completely enter the room, she discreetly shoved the earpiece to her ear before she greeted Yao-momo and Ashido as she arrived.

Well, she doesn't know the purpose of the earpiece–at least she should be able to hear what was happening during the fight between her friends.

 _Her friends…_

Even though they were… her friends, she doesn't really know who to root for. Naturally, it would be Midoriya but still… she can't really ignore the other one.

 _If All Might wanted me to observe their fight fairly, then I should root neither of them._

She watched the monitor in front of them, both teams shown at the screen—doing their role as they should be before All Might announced.

"Now, let's start the indoor person-to-person combat training with Team A and Team D!"

 _But still… good luck you two…_ Hayami silently prayed for their safety.

And the fight between heroes and villains began.

* * *

 **(INTERLUDE)**

" _Remember, there are times that heroes and villains coincidentally had the same mentality. They are called anti-hero or anti-villain. Anti-hero, anti-villain… in order to make strategies against your enemy, sometimes you have to be merciless. That's why, before you battle against them—depending whose your enemy—sometimes you have to think like a villain._

 _I am not telling you to_ become _a villain yourself, I am telling you that at times, you have to think a scenario that was either good or bad—as long as it is beneficial to your side. The mentality of duality. That's why, remember Eshima-kun, not all good people are always good—or bad people are always bad. It all depends on the circumstances._

 _Remember that we are humans._

 _Just humans."_

 _I wonder…_

 _If those words can be applied in this situation. A situation that I thought that I never thought would happen._

 _I wonder…_

* * *

For some reason, her aunt's wisdom suddenly came about in her. The mentality of two sides. Two sides of the coin. The society protected by the humans who called heroes and threated by the same humans called villains. Perhaps there was no reason of this sudden thought that came her. But rather, it was the scene that was shown in the holographic monitor in front of the class.

In the screen, a battered Midoriya and a devastated Bakugo was displayed.

Hayami listened intently during their match. Their dissociating rivalry and the one-sided anger—she listened through all of it. As a bystander of their fight—and a one-sided listener—she tried to figure the flaw of their relationship. For the sake of their relationship, she has to know—that was she was thinking during their fight.

The tense atmosphere of the monitor room, which she finds suffocating, started to get on her nerves. Their gaping and stunned expression was obvious through her peripheral vision. While she still watching the monitor with her usual poker face, she finally realized what was wrong with their relationship.

"Indoor person-to-person combat training. The Hero team… wins!"

 _Miscommunication._

"Wow, that was… intense."

"Yeah…"

"You tell me, the losers are practically uninjured… and the winners are on the ground…"

"The lost the battle, but won the war, huh?"

Her classmates was right. The battered Midoriya and the sickly Uraraka who keeps barfing are winners of this fight, despite on their condition. And Iida and Bakugo was unscathed and clean, especially Iida who keeps rubbing brunette back as she vomiting on the ground, perhaps a side-effect of her Quirk.

"Everyone, stay here in the monitor room. I'll go fetch those four at the ground Beta."

"Yes, sir!"

All Might left the room in silence, leaving his students behind as he closed the door. Pregnant silence lingered upon the students for a second before Kaminari broke it nonchalantly.

"Man… that fight was brutal. I wonder if our battles is gonna be like that too." Kaminari linked his hands together behind his head, pondering.

"I hope not. I don't want to get injured like that." Mineta wished while trembling in fear at the thought.

"I really hope they didn't went too far during their fight, but still… they did anyway." Ashido sighed.

"Those two… that green one and explosion one, they seems to have issues with each other." Tokoyami studied.

"Yeah, it was a bit obvious. Do you remember the comprehension test, right? Bakugo was quite angry at him at that time." Sero added.

"I hope they resolved their problems…"

"Yeah…"

Hayami side-glanced her classmates as she listened to their conversation. It was no surprise that her classmates knew about Midoriya and Bakugo. The blonde-haired boy made it too obvious that he didn't particularly liked the Midoriya during that test. During that time, she was a bit confused of the behavior Bakugo expressed to the boy since she was oblivious of their relationship. But during the combat training with an earpiece that was uncomfortably resting to her cat ears, she finally understood.

At first, she doesn't know how to react to the revelation. Even though it was just her speculation, it seems like Bakugo felt betrayed that Midoriya hid his Quirk from him and this thought made him angry. While confused by her assumption, she tried to figure out _why_ this made the blonde-haired boy angry. When no ideas came to her, she decided to rest that case and let the time catch up to it for its revelation to come to her.

On the lighter side of the combat training, the fight between Uraraka and Iida gave her a bit of a chuckle. It was quite a silly moment between the two as they started to play tag with the boy kept pushing the 'weapon' away from the girl's grasp. It was a ridiculous sight but quite an effective plan in hindsight. Truly an evil motive indeed, that Iida's plan is.

Despite the shenanigan of the first half (on Uraraka and Iida's part), the second-half of the fight started to get brutal. Bakugo started using his bomb-like gauntlet as she listened to his explanation that it stored his sweat for more firepower for his Quirk and aimed it to Midoriya. At his monologue, she started to get nervous at the possibility of Midoriya getting _killed_ during their fight as she kept glancing at All Might.

" _If I don't hit him, he won't die!"_

… _what?_ She caught herself thinking. Those words came stuck to her head as Midoriya came out (a bit) unscathed in that loud, trembling explosion that shook the building especially her poor ears. In her peripheral vision, she saw her classmates panicking at the fact that Bakugo used his powerful firepower, glancing around the room as if expecting ceiling to collapse above them.

While listened to their fight, she half-heartedly paid attention to her classmates as they begged to All Might to stop the fight because Bakugo had gone way overboard. While she agreed to their concerns, but that would be bad idea. Not for the sake of the combat training but for the sake of those two egos that was shown in the monitor. She had to admit that she no longer paid attention to Uraraka and Iida. Her attention was drawn at the messed up fight between her two friends.

" _Why won't you use your Quirk? Are you underestimating me?"_

Bakugo's voice echoed on the earpiece.

" _You have been like this ever since we were kids! Have you been underestimating me since then, you bastard!?"_

Bakugo's frustration reached her ears.

" _Ever since then… ever since that she chose you over me…! Have you looked down on me since then, huh?!"_

 _Who… who is 'she'?_ She found herself wondering. She shook her head. _No, there's no way that their imbalance rivalry was sparked because of…'her', isn't it?_ And it would be silly to think that rivalry was caused by some girl. Or at least, that 'girl' became the catalyst of their ruined friendship.

As the fight between them got even more intense, there was one thing that was stuck in her head as listened through their fight.

" _You're an amazing person, so that's why… I want to beat you! I want to win and surpass, you idiot…!"_

Midoriya's determination echoed through her ears.

" _Not because I was chosen by her or anything… I want defeat you on my own strength…!"_

And before she realized, the fight ended on the favor to the heroes side—a.k.a. Midoriya and Uraraka.

After a moment of contemplation, an epiphany came to her in silence.

 _Is… is the 'girl' they're talking about… Is it… me?_

It was a bold but plausible assumption. She already knew that Midoriya is a loner during middle-school (she can't really talk about his elementary days) and Bakugo is not that friendly to other people and she's sure that girls don't want to be friends with such a rough personality like him. Or even approach him. And that only leaves her—Hayami Eshima who is a childhood friend of theirs, and with the outmost fact that she's a girl.

As these facts sink in, she started to ponder of her forgotten childhood. _What kind of friend is she to them if she started the rivalry between them?_ Those were her thoughts regarding to her past that was buried in the depths of her mind.

She also thought that she would have to apologize to them.

Those were her last thoughts as All Might barged in the room with Bakugo, Iida and Uraraka trailing behind him. Her classmates collected themselves and gathered in front of the pro-hero like a good students they should be. Hayami stayed to her spot as she listened from the distance.

"Well, even if the fight had gone overboard… Bakugo-kun, Iida-kun, Uraraka-kun, you've done a great job during the combat training!" All Might gave them a thumbs-up as they nodded at him half-heartedly except for Bakugo who kept his head down. "Well, even if I say that… The MVP of the battle was young Iida!"

The said boy was caught off guard at this as he gaped in surprise. "Wha…?!"

"It's not either of the winners, Ochaco-chan or Midoriya-chan?" Asui asked.

"Hmm, well… why is that?" All Might hummed dramatically. "Does anyone know?"

Yao-momo raised her hand. "I do, All Might-sensei!"

Seeing her friend gathering the attention of her classmates, Hayami slowly walked towards the crowd as she listened to what her friend has in store for analyzing the fight between her friends.

"That is because Iida adapted the most to the context of the training." Her friend started. "From watching the match, it appears Bakugo acted on his own because of an obviously personal grudge. And as All Might-sensei said earlier, it's foolish to launch a large-scale attack indoors." She took a deep breath for the next barrage of words. "In the same way, taking into consideration the damage he received, Midoriya's plan was too rash. As for Uraraka-san, she let her guard down mid-battle and her final attack was too reckless. If she treated the paper-mache as a real weapon, she would not have been able to do something so dangerous." She glanced at bespectacled boy. "Iida-san had prepared for his opponent's arrival and assumed it'd be a fight over the weapon which made him late in responding to the final attack."

Hayami involuntarily glanced at Iida who looked ecstatic at the praise he just received.

Yao-momo continued her words that the hero team only won because they took advantage of the fact that it was a training exercise and basically broke the rules for the sake of victory. As she listened, Hayami had no choice but to agree to her friend's words because it was basically the truth. But still, if the setting of the training was based in the real world, Midoriya and Uraraka deserved the win for risking their lives and they had done their best to retrieve the nuclear weapon.

 _That's basically the epitome what the hero is._

While she listlessly listened to All Might's lecture, she briefly glanced to Bakugo's direction who had a dazed, wide-eyed look to his face. Fully turning her face to him, she shot him a worried look knowing that he won't see it.

 _It seems like he was still in shock._ She creased her eyebrows as she studied him at the distance.

As if time was a breeze, the next combatants was chosen as All Might brought them to another location (since the former building got destroyed). Arriving at the monitor room, she briefly glanced once again in Bakugo's face as she tried to figure out what was written to it.

Shock? Fear? Epiphany? Anger? His expression wasn't clear enough for her. Having no idea what was going to his head, she discreetly walked to him and stood beside him in silence as she glanced up due to his height. For once in a while, she found herself mildly annoyed at her genetics for being born as short person and crossed her arms with a huff.

Without warning, she jolted in surprise when All Might announced that the second match begun. Almost forgetting that she had an earpiece with her the whole time, she almost swore when voices rang in her ears as it recorded the conversations of the combatants. Thankfully, no one turned their attention to her, since they're focused of the upcoming battle in the monitor. She sighed in relief at this.

She immediately snapped her head when she saw a movement beside her as she turned her head to Bakugo who walked to the back of the room while his eyes trailed to the monitor. He still had this dazed look on his eyes but at least he's focusing at the recorded fight in front of them. She silently grant his wish to be left alone as she kept her distance from him.

Compared to the first match, the fight ended in a minute. The hero team—Todoroki and Shoji won the match against the villains—Ojiro and Hagakure who barely lift a finger as they lost to them without repercussions.

As both teams returned to the monitor room for their combat review, Hayami tried to smile at the heterochromatic boy for their victory as he replied with a simple nod. She tried to hide her glee when he responded to her—happy that at least he reacted to her. One step at a time, she guessed.

Feeling a nagging presence from her mind, she turned her attention to Bakugo who seemed to try his best to glare at Todoroki who remained oblivious from the stare. As if involuntarily, his eyes swept to her as she was taken back at this. They stared at each other for a while before he dropped his gaze from her, looking distracted.

 _That was weird…_ The moment when they met each other's eyes, a nostalgic feeling came to her without warning. An unknown yet familiar feeling came to sweep her emotions as a déjà vu clouded her mind. She shook her head at the strange feeling, hoping to clear it from her head.

"What's wrong, Eshima-san?" Yao-momo came to her side with concerned look.

"Ah, no, there was nothing." Hayami nervously laughed. "Maybe I'm just a bit dizzy…"

"That's not good. You still haven't had your match yet, you know?"

"Yeah, I know…"

 _If only she knew who she would be fighting though…_

The following matches went out without complications. Every Hayami's classmates came out from the monitor room along with their partners at every building for every matches. As she watched (and listened) the fights recorded at the video feed, a looming doom gradually comes closer to her as every students won or lost during the combat training. She still had no idea who her opponent(s) is. Is she even included in this exercise? She started to doubt the purpose of the lottery of [ **S** ] she got earlier.

With final review of the seemingly final match concluded, All Might suddenly fell silent. When the numbing silence came to the room, the students looked at each other worriedly.

"Hayami-kun, come here." All Might suddenly gestured at her direction. Pointing herself in confusion, she walked in front of her classmates as the pro-hero rested his hands to her shoulder before he started talking.

"Some of you may been wondering why Hayami-kun had no partner in this exercise." He paused, taking in their reactions. "Don't worry, no favoritism was involved during the selection of your partners. She was just… _lucky_ to pick the lottery that involves independency."

Hayami looked up to him incredulously. _Lucky?_

"There is a reason why she was left out. Well, she's not _completely_ left out in this exercise… she just had a role to fulfill."

 _A role?_ She frowned, tilting her head in wonder.

" _Hayami-kun, remove your earpiece."_ All Might whispered to her. Remembering that she had the earpiece with her, she reached to her ears to remove it. She can hear her classmates gasping as they saw her pulling out a similar earpiece from All Might.

"As you can see, Hayami-kun had also been listening the match the whole time. Analyzing your Quirks, your strength, your weaknesses… Do you realize what role she is fulfilling right now?"

In her speculation, since the scenario of the combat training is inspired by video games, she assumed that she was fulfilling the role of a hidden boss—

"Traitor."

"That's right. A traitor."

She gaped at Todoroki who answered the question before she looked up to All Might as he clarified it. Several emotions came to her before her expression eventually became unimpressed. _Great. My first hero and villain scenario role play and I get the traitor part. Nice._ Despite the sarcasm, All Might should have at least tell her that she was fulfilling the role of a traitor. She would have prepared herself and analyzed her classmates more closely.

"I'm sure you all know what a traitor is, right? Hayami-kun had the advantage against all of you." All Might clarified. "Listen closely, heroic acts doesn't always mean about your physical strength. It's about tenacity, determination and most of all, your cleverness. You make strategies against your opponents. Taking advantage of their weaknesses and win the fight."

Hayami really wanted to retort at All Might's words because _he_ always wins with simple punches in every fight. It distorts the idea that as long as you have strength (muscles) with you, you will always win a fight. That was the image that the Number One Hero invoked to the society. She's not saying that having muscles is not a bad thing, it just strokes some different type of people who looked up to All Might—taking the idea of 'strength' to boost their ego and would look down to people who don't _look_ 'strong'.

Basically, All Might being a Symbol of Victory had a positive and negative influence.

But she really can't fault them because that's how just society is.

 _The toxic side of 'strength'._

"Besides of Hayami-kun having not a partner, there's a reason why she doesn't have a fixed opponent." All Might continued. "With her information gathering, _she_ would be the one to choose her own opponent."

"Eh?" Hayami looked to him in surprise.

"What?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Isn't that like… unfair?"

"Not everything is fair, young man and ladies. Thus, the role of a traitor that Hayami-kun is currently fulfilling is about unfairness of a fight. In other words, whether she decides it or not, she can choose one of you who she deems the weakest against her and easily win the fight."

A sense of dread and anxiety came to the faces of her classmates. They even refused to look at her so that they won't accident meet each other's eyes in fear of being chosen as her enemy. In Hayami's part, she can't help but be mildly annoyed at the arrangement. All Might should have _really_ talked to her about this instead of sudden announcement that she would be the one choosing her own opponent. She always come unprepared of surprise declarations, especially when it involves her.

 _And the thing about choosing her own enemy…_ she doesn't know who to choose among her classmates. According to experiences that came from her aunt, she was told that every Quirk should _not_ be underestimated. It may sound or look lame at the first sight, it's the application to every situation and person is what make it strong. And based on the combat training she witnessed earlier, some of her classmates has a strong Quirk with them—Todoroki as the biggest example and Kaminari with his lightning but with a messy control.

 _Not to mention, Bakugo with his explosion._

At the mention of him, she looked at the corner of the room where Bakugo currently resides, almost having no care of everything if only he wasn't watching at her. Bakugo abruptly looked away as she caught him staring with a frown.

 _Perhaps she should choose him?_ An idea came to her but other part screamed no. The reason is because of her ears. She can't handle loud explosion in her life for a living and his Quirk is good counterbalance against her. She clicked her tongue at this. _She should have asked her aunt to include some sort of gadget for her ears._

 _But still, what was the reason of her being here? Isn't it because she wanted to challenge herself?_

Those words were true to the point. She came in this hero school for her to challenge herself, not because she wanted an easy way out nor overcoming an easy obstacle. She's here because of her selfish wish to be stronger. She would expect a slow progress for her development and she's not being hasty about it. She knows that being a hero is no joke. Society always expects the heroes to be gallant and come out victorious against the villains.

 _But what would happen if the hero loses against a villain? Would they lose their trust?_

She doesn't have a concrete answer. In all honesty, searching for answers is part of her journey.

 _The reason why people still insist of becoming a hero._

With a slow progress, they are steps to follow. Just like All Might said earlier, it's her choice who would be her opponent. In a few minutes of contemplation, she decides—for the sake of sentimentality—who would be her enemy.

"I choose Bakugo Katsuki as my opponent."

Just like she said, she wanted to challenge herself. And that includes a rocky relationship. In her case, she doesn't like making enemies of someone she knows, it's stressful to ignore and not make an effort about it to resolve.

Bakugo Katsuki, a person who is (was?) her childhood friend. And (maybe) a bully to Midoriya Izuku, as a stepping stone for her selfish wish, he would be the first obstacle.

"…fine."

As soon as she heard him agree, she felt her confidence stuttered but immediately steeled herself. There's no backing down now, she chose this and now she had to face this.

But for some reason, somehow, she felt like she was digging her own grave for her recklessness. She inwardly scoffed at this. She doesn't have to worry about that, she had already dug a grave to bury herself.

With her decision at hand, she had no choice to face the epitome of her weakness.

* * *

Bakugo Katsuki walked ahead of Hayami Eshima as they walked to their destination for their combat training. Both of them didn't an effort to make sound between them. Just a stifling silence that started to thier numb ears as they walked closer to the building. Seeing the tall building ahead, Bakugo turned his head to his companion behind him who effortlessly failed to hide her nervousness under her façade. Without exchanging words, he entered inside the building as he was fulfilling a role of a hero protecting the fake nuclear weapon.

According to All Might, the scenario that both they are playing is the continuation of the previous fight where heroes are trying to retrieve the weapon. Assuming that the heroes has retrieved the weapon, it was the villains turn to steal it from the hero's hands. Thus, the role of the traitor—which the _nekomimi_ is trying to fulfill in this exercise.

As he arrived in the room where the paper-mache was set, he waited. For some reason, he was _deathly_ calm. There were no thoughts occupying his head as silence became his companion that was numbing his ears. Despite the indifferent face he had right now, the swirling emotions is ready to burst in his chest, waiting like a ticking bomb. He waited in silence, no thoughts—no feelings as he glared at the door in front of him.

He was irritably patient. He started to get restless as he kept clenching his fist and his scalp started to itch. He wanted grab his hair in frustration and scream with all his might but he can't—not now. He can't show that he's slowly losing his patience—he can't. After all, he's currently in the battle training and he has to keep his composure if he wants to win.

To win against _her_.

As his thoughts reached to her, his mind reacted as unpleasant memories came to him; making his temper flare and bit his lip to regain his self-control. He _really_ hates that pink-haired devil, truly and madly. She was the one who caused his insecurity about Deku that _he_ was better than him. In all of his life, he thought that lowlife was below him and was less impressive than him. Heck, Deku supposed to have no Quirk! What is this plot-twist joke revelation he just got? Did Deku looked down at him this whole time?

He had no answer. He received no answer. Instead, it was unwavering resolve he witnessed when he confronted about it. _He wanted to surpass me, that Deku?_ He thought in disbelief. If they weren't in that situation he would continue to pick on him and moved on to boast his ego, but the sudden change in Deku's demeanor was frustrating to look at. _What the heck, Deku…? You're supposed grovel on my feet and stay at the sideline like you should be…!_

This makes him angry. Angry because he changed. Frustrated because he fought back. Upset because he's no longer the Deku he knows in the past. He knows that people changed. He'd seen grown-ups trying to better themselves for the sake of others. For the sake of being accepted. For the sake of attention.

 _But why would he change himself if he was already praised by_ everyone? This was the opinion that he used to believe for himself. It was something that he thought was truly accept by others. People changed for the sake of something important, and Deku showed it in front of him. He can't revert it back nor change the present. He _did_ change.

And it hurts to look at him without seething in anger.

Just in time, he saw the pink-haired devil—err… _nekomimi_ entered the room as she calmly closed the door behind her. Bakugo inwardly scoffed how she _looked_ unprepared when she entered, seeing her glancing the surroundings. Seeing him calmly standing in front of the weapon, he saw her visibly tensed before she gathered herself and walked towards him.

Bakugo flexed his hands when she saw her calmly advancing, his Quirk making small burst of explosion as he prepared himself for any surprised attacks. As he remembered, she was listening the fight between him and Deku as her supposed role of a traitor. When he found out about this, he silently wondered how much she listened during their fight. He was not embarrassed by it, it just made him _a bit_ insecure that _someone_ was listening to their childish brawl.

But that aside, he also wondered why of all the weaklings in the monitor room, she chose him to be his opponent. Surely, she would have chosen an easy fight against anyone but instead, she chose him. He remembered the look of her face when she chose him as her enemy during that time, seeing her looking at him with the same determined look that Deku donned on his face during his fight.

But despite all that, the biggest question was _why._

Why him? He knows that he's not easy opponent to go against with. Especially with his Quirk producing loud noises which is bad for her ears. Why does she go that far to choose him to be her opponent?

 _Was it because they knew each other hoping for a pity fight?_

No, that doesn't seem to be her style. At least, he assumed to be _not_ her style. They were childhood friends—he's aware that they were childhood friends but his memories is way too distorted to fully remember the time they had each other as he can't fully visualize their time with each other.

Except, it was occupied with a familiar pink-haired devil.

Bakugo clicked in annoyance as he shook his head to clear way the image. When he heard the footsteps stopped, he looked up to her seeing him standing a few feet away from him. They stared at each other for a while—a whole while of silent communication with their eyes as they both narrowed their eyes.

With a jolt, Hayami made the first move.

He was tempted to swing his right arm, but he remembered that she had advantages against him. Instead, he swung his leg for a roundhouse kick aiming for her head. Unfortunately, she caught it with her left arm, successfully blocking her right ear as he saw her pulling back her right fist—aiming it at the back of his knee or thigh. Realizing her intention to lose his balance, he roughly aimed his right hand, his Quirk already loudly popping as her ears twitched at the upcoming threat. She raised her leg to kick him, as both fighters were forced to let go and slides away from each other.

 _Underhanded tactics, huh?_ He knows that his leg armor should have damage her considerably if only it connected to her head, causing a mild a concussion on her part. But as expected, she's truly not be underestimated. Collecting themselves from the first encounter, Bakugo wasted no time as he used his Quirk to propel himself to her. Hayami immediately reacted as she made a stance, preparing herself at the incoming attack.

Bakugo grinned when he saw her unprepared, maneuvering himself and once again gave her a roundhouse kick while being in the air. Unexpectedly, another pain came to his abdomen as he finally noticed that she just gut punched him while ducking under at his kick. At the unexpected momentum, he found himself brought down the ground using her fist, making a small crater as his breath was forcibly took out.

She's way too agile to hit using his usual combat style. Those were Bakugo's fleeting thoughts. Realizing this, he decided to change his tactics as he kicked her away from him and immediately stood up while still wobbling on his feet. He needs a plan to disorient her, something that could he could exploit with his own Quirk.

 _With his own Quirk…?_

As he recovered his balance, a fleeting plan came to him as he glared at her who made another whatever martial arts stance she's currently making. As if she saw opportunity at his weakened state, Hayami dashed for an attack. Seeing this, he raised his arms to defend himself as she gave him a flurry of attacks in hopes to drop his defense so that she can make a direct assault to him.

Bakugo waited, waited and waited. Taking in the attacks to his body, occasionally dodging and making small counter attacks against her. He waited until it's done. He has to if he wants to win the fight.

After a few bruises away, it's finally completed. He tried to hide his grin but it seems like Hayami saw this and hastily backed away from him. His grin widened. _Wrong move, nekomimi._

Taking this opportunity, the sweat in his hands gathered, continuously bursting out loud noises as he saw her wincing and her ears twitching occasionally as if she wanted to run away. Bakugo faced his open palm to her as it continues to spark from his hand. Without further ado, an explosion occurred from his hands, aiming at the wincing girl who were unprepared at the untimely blast.

In the corner of his eyes, he saw her running at the sides dodging at the last minute from his attack as he saw her once again advancing to him for her attack. Bakugo stayed prepared waiting for her attack as he saw her open palm attack aimed at him—and him at the same time thrusted his hand above her head where her sensitive ears, making a small explosion to it. He saw her grimaced but never faltered her stance as her palm connected to his chest followed by a punch to his abdomen. He felt his breath leave him away and by instinct, raised his other hand for the same intention to her other ear.

Unfortunately, she saw this and quickly slapped it away and gut-punched him again. He found himself wincing at the forming bruise on his abdomen, an unpleasant feeling where she repeatedly punch him. As he felt himself weakened, he felt a tugging feeling from his arm as he looked up and seeing her trying to pull away his bomb-like gauntlet from his arm. His tiredness suddenly washed when he saw her intention. _The bastard…! She's trying to disarm me!_

He immediately bristled at this and raised his arm to attack her. But Hayami immediately reacted and harshly slapped it and punched him in the throat. He coughed roughly as the saliva came stuck to his esophagus.

 _Shit, my plan barely worked on her…_ But the other side of him opposed and said that it did, after all, she did react to his explosion but that wasn't enough to immobilize her. He felt the tugging feeling again as he tried to make a small explosion but was immediately interrupted as if she knew it coming by gut-punching him again.

The endless struggle trying to disarm him continues. Every time he tried to attack, she would wittedly react with a slap followed by the blow of his body. After the multiple attempts of tugging, she let go of the gauntlet with a huff but not before she kicked him away.

When he felt himself being freed, he wasted no time and propelled himself into her who is surprised at the sudden counterattack. Seeing this, she jumped away to dodge from him but Bakugo predicted this at the last second and changed his direction using his Quirk while in the air, following her above the ground. Hayami gaped at him as she saw him approaching, latching himself at the ceiling (yes, they're that high) and jumped upside down towards her with both outstretched hands aiming at her abdomen and throat.

Even though she dodged the blow aimed to her throat, his attack still connected on her abdomen as he forcibly threw her to the hard floor with brutal explosion, deafened both of them as it created a large crater and harshly recoiled at the impact.

 _That's what you get for repeatedly punching me, you nekomimi!_

Unable to recover himself, he roughly fell with a loud 'boom!' as he landed painfully at the floor. Finally realizing that he still suffered fatal bruises on his body, he allowed himself to relax and looked at the side where Hayami laid defeated and unconscious.

 _What the heck was that fight?_ He thought. That was no Hero vs. Villain fight; that was basically just two people duking out at each other. Despite that it was her who choose him as her opponent, she was the one who lost in the fight.

He let out a painful huff. _What the heck are you thinking, nekomimi? You lost…_ She should have an advantage against him when he was still in a weakened state and recovered the weapon, but instead she stayed and continued to fight. Really, what was her plan against him? He found himself thinking. It didn't seem like she wanted to win the fight this whole time… She just fought him until the end…

His thoughts became disjointed as dark spots started to appear in vision and fatigue overcoming his mind. With the image of the defeated pink-haired girl who looked like his friend in the past, an image of a certain demon in his demon in his head became smudged, replacing a nostalgic memory between them.

 _O…Oto…?_ He tried to recall the name that was mentioned in the lost forgotten memory before his eyes became heavy and closed his eyes.

 _Why is her name different than I remem…_ Those were his last thoughts before sleepiness conquered his mind.

 _That's our secret between us, okay?_

* * *

 **Alrighty. That fight bet** ** **ween Bakugo vs. Hayami... kinda mixed feelings. Originally supposed to be a emotional fight but I guess, the fight**** ** ** **was in Bakugo's perspective so I'll put Hayami POV of the fight next chapter. That traitor revelation being Hayami's role in the exercise... I actually read some fanfics OCs being the traitor so I'm actually being meta here but Hayami is _not_ the traitor here in this story. At least.******

 **Okay. I have bad news.** **I'll be updating this story _slo_** **werthan before. I'm kinda currently invested on my others fics (Kingdom Hearts and MHA AU) but I'll still update this any** **way so don't** **worry about it!**

 ** **I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Leave a review for your thoughts and/or feedback!****

 ** **```JAYYSHAA```****


	5. Stranger (I)

**STRANGER**

 _~ resolution ~_

* * *

It was a reckless decision, she mulled. Hayami does not know what came over her to choose Bakugo as her opponent when she knows it herself that she was facing the thesis of her weakness— her sensitive hearing—and fought him against in the battle center.

 _Because of her fleeting confidence that got her, she lost the fight._

Perhaps it was closure that she wanted, an attempted talk through him by actions—violent actions—that he seemed to prefer so well. But instead, she was met with a beat down, at the hands of Bakugo who looked more pissed to communicate with her through the so-called violent actions.

 _Actions speaks louder,_ they said.

Hayami reflected what happened in the battle center at the bed of the infirmary, white ceiling and familiar faint sterile scent that she can pick up in the air. Beside her, a bruised Midoriya resting who got his own beat down of the same opponent as hers. The only difference between them, is that Midoriya received those injuries through his own whim rather than from the fight itself.

Turning her head at the side, she stared at Midoriya thoughtfully, remembering the words he uttered during their fight. According to those words, _she_ chose him but the question is, what for? What did she chose him for? And why does Bakugo hate that fact so much that he was willing to antagonize Midoriya for it? She came up with no answer. Nothing. To her, it doesn't make sense for two boys to fight over one girl who favored one person that sparked rivalry. Sighing, she sat up from her bed, tired from lying at the bed for hours and stretched herself.

"Grrhg…"

She stopped her stretching when she heard Midoriya groaning. Seeing him stirring from his sleep, she neared his bed while waiting for his eyes to open. Emerald green met sapphire blue, as they both stared at each other. Blinking from his view, it took Midoriya for a while to realize that she was closer than he expected and instantly jolted away, flustered.

"Shi-Shi-Shiichan?! What are you doing here?!" He blurted out in confusion and embarrassment, still red in the face.

"We're in the infirmary, Midoriya-kun." She answered instead.

"Infirmary…?" He looked around, instantly recognizing the room. "Why are you in the infirmary, Shiichan?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm injured." She back stepped to her bed to sit. "From my fight with Bakugo-san."

The boy gaped at her. "Kacchan?!"

"Yeah. You know that was my role—"She stopped, realizing that he still doesn't know about her role in the exercise. "Right, you weren't there. Well, long story short, my role in the exercise is to be a traitor."

"A traitor?"

"Yes. During your fight, I had my earpiece with me and listened to you to gather information for my fight… well, supposedly." _If only All Might told me about it in the first place._ "And I chose Bakugo-san to be my opponent."

Midoriya hummed. "I see… a traitor, huh? All Might did say villains who hides in the shadows is higher than villains who makes crimes outside. To have someone take a role of a traitor in one of us makes sense, since it was supposed to make us prepared that if someone we know might stab us in the back—or maybe, someone who earned their trust but only to betray that trust…"

Hayami laughed nervously at the mumbling spree mode Midoriya is currently doing. She decided to let him do his business on his own and run his mouth while she does her own—which is just fidgeting and waiting for the elderly school nurse to arrive in the room. After a few moments of mumbles and her just staring in daze at random objects with empty thoughts, Midoriya turned his attention to her with confusion written to his face but stayed silent with a thoughtful expression. She tilted her head at him.

"What is it?" She asked.

"It's just… a thought but why did you choose Kacchan to be your opponent?"

Ah, the question of the day. A question that Hayami herself doesn't know the true answer.

"Honestly, I don't know." She shrugged with a hesitant smile. "When I choose him as my opponent, I guess I wasn't thinking straight when I did. Maybe because I knew him than the rest of my classmates?"

 _Or perhaps it was her way to resolve things between them which failed?_

Midoriya had gone silent. Indifference was painted to his face, looking down as if he was lost in his thoughts. But then, he looked up to her. "Then, does that mean… you heard us talking, right?"

Hayami was surprised at the sudden change of subject. She nodded at his question. "Yes."

"Shiichan." He attempted to get up from his bed but stumbled away which caused her to stand up and help him. "Is it okay… for us to talk?"

She frowned at him in wonder but still nodded to his words. "Of course."

He gathered his hands—or rather, his hand since his right was tied in a cast. "I have a confession to make."

"Confession?"

"I-It's not _that_ kind of confession, Shiichan! This is more of a… like, uh, that's right! Voicing out my thoughts, yes!"

"Okay…?" She wondered what _other_ type of confession he was flustered about.

He cleared his throat. "Anyway, I have a confession to make. I don't know how put in words so I'll put it bluntly." He took a deep breath. "I can't trust you, Shiichan."

She blinked in surprise.

"I-It's not like I can't _definitely_ trust you! No, it wasn't like that! It's just… we're childhood friends and we knew each other in the past. But during that one day… you just disappeared without trace but then a year later, you showed up out of nowhere but only to give us farewell and disappeared for good." He clenched his fist. "But suddenly, you are here with me without the memories of our childhood together."

Hayami listened, not interrupting as she paid attention to his next words.

"At first, I was happy. Happy because nothing happened to you. But… you've changed. And for some reason, I didn't like it. You used to be a person who barely reacts at everything, anything and yet… you are in front of me, smiling, talking to other people and… I have to constantly remind myself that you've only changed because you've lost your memories but…" He glanced to her side to see her reaction, only to meet a striking glance ***** that he was _so_ familiar that he had swallow the unknown lump forming from his throat. "I can't help but found myself disappointed…"

Midoriya waited, waited from the girl who listened to his confessions. He doesn't know what to expect from her, whether he'll received a violent or a deathly calm reaction nor how to handle those either. But no matter how she'll react from his words, he'll gladly received it because he deserved it for his selfishness.

"What, that's all?"

"…eh?" That was a reaction he didn't expect at all.

"It's natural for a friend to be disappointed of something that the other friend that they were known for but only to cast it away as they grew up."

She… got a point though.

"That's the thing, Midoriya-kun. _They grow up._ People change because of it. They realized their own immaturity and decided to learn from it, using it as a stepping stone to adulthood. That's why, it's natural to react that way. You wanted to me to act like its good old days between us but got disappointed because I'm not the same way as before. In other words, you wanted to see the _past_ me instead of the one right in front of you, am I right?"

"Yeah…" He looked down at his lap with a heavy heart. But somehow, her words… there seems to be an underlying insult mixed in there…

"I can't help you with that, Midoriya-kun… if that's the intention. It's a problem that only can be resolve by yourself." She said sharply. "It's your nostalgia speaking to you."

 _But still,_ Hayami thought. _Just what kind of friend is she to him that it was hard for him to forget?_

"You're… right. I'm sorry, Shiichan, you heard those insensitive words from me…"

"It wasn't just insensitive, those were your true, genuine words from your heart. You don't have to apologize for it." Though, she would lying if she said that his words did not pissed her off.

"But still…" He still insisted with an apologetic look.

She sighed. "Alright, alright… apology accepted. Seriously, I was wondering what kind of confession you were gonna say and I thought that you were revealing your feelings for me."

Midoriya turned red. "I told you, Shiichan, it's nothing like that…!"

She breathe out a laugh at his reaction. "I'm just kidding, Midoriya-kun. I know that it wasn't like that."

"Oh…"

 _I guess, one point for me by making the situation more awkward…_ she lamented, regretting the joke she just delivered as the room loomed with silence. Her brain came with a blank to entertain the situation between them.

"Say, Shiichan…" Midoriya suddenly said. "Have you met Iida Tenya and Uraraka Ochaco?"

She tilted her head at the topic of their conversation. "You mean, those two who were with you during lunch time?" She saw him nod. "I met the girl but I never properly met the guy."

"Ah, Iida-kun—I mean, that was Iida Tenya! You've saw him during the orientation a few months ago, right?"

"Yeah…"

"He may seem like a bad guy at first, but he's just an earnest person." He clarified while fidgeting the blanket. "That's why, if you met him, don't antagonize him…"

Hayami arched an eyebrow. "Did you really don't trust me that much that your vision of me is that bad? I'm not that kind of person, Midoriya-kun."

"Well…" He supplied hesitantly. "You kind of are in the past…"

 _Oh… wait, what?_ Her thoughts stuttered at the new information she got regarding about her past. Its making her seems like she was a possessive person.

"I…" She trailed off, not knowing what to say next. "I'm not that kind—wait, again with the thing in the past, are you saying that you got disappointed because of that?"

He looks startled. "No! It's nothing like that…! I'm just telling you that he's my friend and I don't want you two to fight!"

"Huh? Why would I get into a fight with him…?" She muttered in confusion.

"It's just… you two don't have good impression with each other so…"

 _With each other, huh?_ She guessed that Iida must have talked something unpleasant about her and this is Midoriya's way to diffuse the situation between them. Despite that, she's kinda surprised that he knows that she didn't have a good impression of him either.

"Don't worry about that. I'm not a hateful person and I don't linger that much on grudges." She reassured him, which made a sigh in relief.

"If that's the case, why don't we—"

Both students heard a creak from the door as they looked up at the newcomer. "Oh? It seems like you two are awake. That's good. Girl, I have already treated all your wounds so you can go out if you want."

Hayami stood up. "I see. That's a relief." She turned her attention to Midoriya. "If you don't mind, I'll go ahead. I'll wait for you at the classroom."

He nodded, his eyes lingering to her form as she walked at the door.

"Oh, that reminds me," She suddenly stopped at the door before she turned her head to him. "Midoriya-kun, I know you're disappointed with me but I'll reassure you that I am not replaced. The Hayami Eshima that you know in the past is still the Hayami Eshima right in front of you. That's why, the memories that you have with me in the past will never be replaced, no matter what happened to me right now. But also, don't forget that memories that you have with me right now is also as important like the past."

Midoriya stared at her wide-eyed, as she opened the door and closed it behind. Those words… were familiar to him.

A relatively similar words before her farewell...

 _"Why, Shiichan?!" Midoriya was confused. "Why can't you stay with us?"_

 _"Impossible." The girl just simply said, hollow and indifferent. "This was never my home, so I have to go away."_

 _He flinched at the truth of her words, but still…! "But we'll still accept you! No matter who and what you are…!"_

 _"Are you?" Her eyes lit up of a rare emotion, a striking glance that he found himself admiring. "Even though I did a lot of bad things, are you still willing to accept me?"_

 _"Bad things…? Y-yes! I would still accept y-you…!"_

 _She only narrowed her eyes at him. "Look at you, lying to yourself. In reality, you feared me, don't you?"_

 _He only stayed silent._

 _"Don't worry, Izuku. The thing you feared will disappear soon." She stood up from her seat, walking towards the door. "After all, it is the hero's duty to make it disappear, right?"_

 _"Shiichan…?"_

 _She grasp the door. "That reminds me," She turned her head towards him. "Izuku. I_ won't _disappear, don't worry about that. But, don't forget the memories we have with each other, the time we have as friends and our first meeting. That's why, I will never be replaced. Ever."_

 _"But Shiichan…!"_

 _She glared at him. It was only single striking look from her that made him shut up as he felt his world crumbled. He can only look at the fading form of hers, a crawling betrayal stabbing him through the heart whilst at the same time, regret swarmed into it._

 _If only he pursued her harder… it wouldn't have become like this…_

"Hey, are you okay?"

Midoriya snapped out of his flashback daydream. "Yeah… I'm okay."

The elderly hummed sagely. "If you're wondering what the girl was trying to say, I think she meant that you have to realize the difference of her past and what she is now. But also appreciate the difference of the two." She walked near him. "But no matter what the differences, she's still the same person."

"Yeah… I know…" He exhaled, slightly grateful of the elderly for the input since he can't think clearly just now.

But still… now that she saw _her_ , the Shiichan he knew and the Shiichan right now, it was an eye opener by talking to her. In reality, he had been wanting to talk with her about the past in hopes for her memory to recover and revert back to the Shiichan that he knew so much. But now… it seemed to be impossible. She had changed; even though she would remember it, the personality and their relationship between them (including Kacchan) can't be turned back. People change as they grow up, learn from their mistakes and used it for their growth, he can't degrade her from what she had become now.

And that acceptance hurts but it is the harsh reality.

 _Huh? It's strange…_ He recalled back how Shiichan in the past used her words. Her words feels like she's going away permanently but told him that she will be never be replaced; no matter what happens to her. She told even him to not forget the memories they had with each other.

Why did she told him like that? He asked longingly, his brain turning its gears. Why did she told him as if she was planning something? What was the reason behind it? He doesn't know the answer but there's one thing for sure.

 _That there's a something alarming about it._

Midoriya was forcibly snapped out of his thinking spree when he heard the door as he looked up. When he saw the identity of the newcomer, his heart immediately shot up in shock from his chest at the person who is currently standing right in front of him.

"Kacchan…?!"

* * *

 **A/N: a short chapter because I got writer's block. I decided to post smaller (broken) chapters like I'm doing in wattpad here because compiling chapters into a single thing is kinda hard. (wattpad has 13 chapters but has the same content). Updates will be slower than usual since i'm focusing on MHA AU fanfic (just started writing the first chapter) and kingdom hearts fanfic.  
**

 **Clarification (not really); there's a small reference managed to sneak in here from chapter 1.**


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